Daily US Times: An additional $1tn (£776bn) fund has been proposed by the Republicans to address the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The plan includes $100bn for schools and issuing stimulus payments of up to $1,200 to most Americans.
The payment, under the plan, would replace a $600 boost to unemployment benefits during the pandemic.
The proposal sets the stage for negotiations with Democrats who have called it “totally inadequate”.
The US has already spent more than $2.4tn on virus relief measures, sending billions of dollars in aid to individual households and businesses. But economists and experts have warned since the spring that more would be necessary.
Top Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said Republicans wanted to see how existing programs were working, but had now produced a “tailored and targeted draft” to address the economic fallout of the current pandemic.
The proposal would reduce the 600 US dollars weekly unemployment benefit supplement to 200 US dollars until states can set up a more targeted system that replaces 70% of a person’s previous wage.
The reduction reflects worries that the current unemployment benefits discourage workers from returning to work since an estimated two thirds of recipients are getting more money from the benefit than they did working.
Senator McConnell said his party “want to continue” the unemployment supplement, which expires this week.
“But we have to do it in a way that does not slow down reopening,” he added.
As well as money for direct payments to families and to help schools, Republicans said they want to put in place legislation to shield businesses from workers’ coronavirus health claims.
What else do Democrats want?
Senator Chuck Schumer, who Democrats’ leader in the Senate, said the proposal was “too little, too late”.
The US has lost roughly 15 million jobs since February and the recovery process remains on shaky ground as coronavirus cases rise and some places reimpose restrictions.
According to a survey by the US census, nearly one in five US workers is currently collecting unemployment benefits and more than half of adults live in households that have seen a drop in income.
Mr Schumer said: “This is a serious, serious crisis. We’re running out of time.”
The top Democratic leader said the Republican plan amounted to a “30% pay cut” at a time when most workers do not have jobs to return to and switching to a new system will be near “impossible” for states to execute.
Mr Schumer pointed to problems that have plagued the programme so far.
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