‘Era of small government is over’: Democrats upsize Covid package with more cash relief – By Sahil Kapur (NBC News) / Feb 8 2021
Democrats are proposing monthly cash payments to families with children, the latest sign of the party’s embracing a larger safety net despite the price tag.
WASHINGTON — Democrats appear to have abandoned hope of getting any Republican support for the next round of Covid-19 relief and, instead of entertaining talks to shrink the president’s $1.9 trillion proposal, are determined to go big.
An addition to President Joe Biden’s plan is coming from Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the chair of the Ways and Means Committee and a key figure in crafting the bill, who wants to add monthly cash payments totaling $3,600 per year for every child under age 6, or $3,000 for children from 6 to 17.
Democrats have been yearning to act boldly on coronavirus aid, haunted by what-ifs from 2009, when they passed a pared-down stimulus package in the wake of the financial collapse, only to suffer for it as a slow recovery led to a bruising midterm election defeat in 2010.
Biden has sought to pave the way for the new approach by arguing that borrowing rates are low and that now isn’t the time to fear red ink.
