As the world continues to battle this pandemic we see our economy going through some rough times. First time unemployment claims have reached over 30 million over the last 6 weeks according to CNBC’s most recent article on jobless claims (see chart below). Continuing unemployment claims are sitting right under 18 million.
This data from the Department of Labor shows us the reality of where our economy is heading. Not only that, but when you look at the numbers versus where we were in the Great Recession, it’s quite scary. The Department of Treasury is doing what they can by agreeing to keep interest rates near 0% for at least the next 6 months. Lawmakers are discussing different options for the next wave of stimulus checks or other options to keep the economy from tanking. Putting all politics aside, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have acknowledged that they will need to pump more money into the economy. Right now, lawmakers are looking to have something together by May 4th (May the 4th be with all of them) (Yes, I am a big Star Wars fan…).
If you are in need of unemployment insurance benefits, check your eligibility
Check your stimulus payment eligibility
If you have not received your stimulus payment yet, check the status
So there are three different proposals that are gaining momentum. Not sure if any of these even stand a chance of making it through, but let’s take a look at these three proposals.
Emergency Money for the People Act
This bill is proposed by Representatives Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Tim Ryan (D-CA). It is meant to provide a monthly stimulus check of $2,000 per adult and $500 for each qualifying child (up to 3 children) for up to a period of one year.
- Must be ages 16 and older earning less than $130k a year if single and $260k a year if married. Married couples will receive $4,000 a month.
- If you are unemployed or claim no earnings, you are also eligible including if you have become recently unemployed.
You can receive your payment easily through direct deposit, prepaid debit card, check, PayPal, Zelle, or Venmo.
The full bill proposal can be read here: Representative Khanna and Ryan’s proposal
Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act
This bill was introduced by Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN). If passed into law, this bill would effectively cancel your mortgage or rent for your primary residence only for one year. No debt would accumulate and no negative impacts will be reported to the credit bureaus. It’s essentially a pause button.
I’m quite sure many of you landlords like myself out there are thinking, “hey, how the heck will I get paid on my rental properties.†Well, this is how…
- The Rental Property Relief Fund and the Home Lenders Relief Fund would be established and managed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD aka Section 8). This would cover losses for landlords and lenders enough to cover their losses from tenants and homeowners not paying rent or mortgage payments.
Related: See our post about the benefit of Section 8 Rental Properties
- Any landlord or lender that accepts this fund will be required to follow federal fair lending and renting practices for five years.
- An optional fund would also be established for private rental property funding to help increase affordable housing availability.
The full bill proposal can be read here: Representative Omar’s proposal
Getting America Back to Work Act
This bill has been proposed by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO). This bill is designed to create a payroll tax rebate that’s refundable and covers up to 80% of the employer’s payroll costs (up to median wage). Some of the key takeaways from this bill are:
- A rehiring bonus for employees returning to their old job that they were laid off from.
- Would last for the entirety of the ongoing pandemic
- Keeps employees on the payroll while maintaining employee benefits
- Reduces the downtime companies face to restart their business
Remember the unemployment insurance numbers from earlier? Well, since more people will be able to keep their jobs or be rehired, this will reduce some of the burden on the unemployment office.
The full bill proposal can be read here: Senator Hawley’s proposal
You might be asking yourself, what do these bills mean? Well, these bills are just proposals. As we know the process for them to be passed into law can be quite… exhausting. However, here is the important thing to think about. When you see those bill proposals above, what do you see? Great, you guessed it! Proposals from both Democrats and Republicans. What does this mean to all of us? It means both sides of the aisle believe we need form additional stimulus pumping money back into our economy. I know many of you may be concerned as I am about the possibility of inflation or even hyper-inflation being caused by this. However, the current chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome “Jay†Powell suggested the impact would be minimal as the “fed†plans to keep interest rates near zero for the remainder of the crisis.
With all of that said, we hope this article was beneficial to you in some kind of way. Please share our site and join in on the discussion. Do you think any of these bills will become law? If so, which one? Why would that particular bill be beneficial? Hope to hear from you all.
