Democrats are seeking an additional $100 billion in funding for hospitals, community health centres, and health systems, according to a statement quoted by Reuters.
The party is also requesting another $250 billion in assistance to small businesses and $150 billion for state and local governments to deal with the coronavirus crisis and alleviate the revenue losses due to the pandemic, the statement adds.
“Congressional Democrats are calling for: $250 billion in assistance to small businesses, with $125 billion channeled through community-based financial institutions that serve farmers, family, women, minority and veteran-owned small businesses and nonprofits in rural, tribal, suburban and urban communities across our country, and improvements to ensure all eligible small businesses can access this critical funding and are not turned away by banks”, the release said.
Democratic members of Congress are also seeking extra aid for families, with a 15 percent increase to the maximum benefit under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme.
The statement says that after Congress passes the interim emergency coronavirus bill, there will be another containing broader relief.
The development comes as US Treasury Department officials are preparing to request another $200 billion from Congress to replenish the small business coronavirus programme. According to a report by The Washington Post, the Treasury Department could seek more than $250 billion for the programme, but that this is still being discussed.
Earlier, the Trump administration unveiled a $2 trillion stimulus package to help the US economy in its fight against the coronavirus. The relief also came amid fears of massive job losses resulting from the pandemic. The US has registered 399,929 COVID-19 cases, 12,911 deaths, and 22,539 recoveries as of 8 April, 2:04 pm, according to Johns Hopkins University.
