The Daily Update: Covid Relief Bill Passes / Tsunami Anniversary

As expected yesterday Congress passed Biden’s USD1.9tn stimulus package; also as expected, it was passed with no Republican votes. Biden plans to sign the bill into law tomorrow. Approval by a 220-211 vote in the Democratic-controlled chamber came with zero Republican support despite Biden promising unity and bipartisanship when he became president. Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, declared before the vote ‘Today we have a decision to make of tremendous consequence – a decision that will make a difference for millions of Americans, saving lives and livelihoods’ and added that the relief bill will be ‘the most consequential legislation that many of us will ever be a party to’.

After the vote Treasury Secretary Yellen said that the passing of the bill by the House could put the U.S. back on track to reach full employment. In her statement praising the bill's passage, Yellen said she was confident that it would protect the U.S. from a slow, gruelling climb from the pandemic recession and bring the U.S. to historically low unemployment by as soon as next year. ‘With the passage of the American Rescue Plan, I believe Americans will emerge from the pandemic with the foundations of their lives intact. And that is an enormous economic and moral achievement for America’ Yellen said, adding ‘Indeed, we are now charting a very different course out of this crisis compared to the one a decade ago. Rather than a long, slow recovery, I expect we could reach full employment by as soon as next year’.

Today also marks the 10-year anniversary of the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. Approximately 20,000 people lost their lives, most of the casualties coming when huge waves triggered by the 9.0 magnitude quake - one of the strongest on record - crashed into Japan's north-eastern coast. As well as the human cost, the direct economic loss from the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear disaster is estimated at USD360bn.