Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, said that the federal government likely needs to provide at least one more coronavirus relief package to help American workers and families still reeling from the pandemic, FoxBusiness.com reported. "We need at least one more, and perhaps two more, rounds of significant public assistance," Clinton said Wednesday during the ABI's virtual International Insolvency Forum. He cited it as one of the key priorities that the incoming Biden-Harris administration should address immediately, noting there are still more than 10 million Americans who are unemployed compared to February, before the crisis began. "In terms of employment and we have huge numbers of businesses that may or may not be able to come back," Clinton said. "And in that context, we have to prioritize what we're going to do and then we need to prioritize areas of growth." While the Federal Reserve has taken a range of extraordinary actions to support the economy, including slashing interest rates to near-zero during an emergency meeting in March, purchasing an unlimited amount of Treasurys and launching nine lending facilities to ensure that credit flows to businesses and Wall Street banks, the central bank "has done about all that it could," Clinton said. "Now, government investments are going to have to pick up a lot of the slack," he said. "And as the result of that, we actually are in one of those rare periods where supply-side economics can work, where you can deficit spend and actually get more return on it because interest rates are so low." Read more.
In related news, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has agreed to resume negotiations with Democrats over a potential new COVID-19 relief bill as cases continue to surge around the country, CNBC.com reported. “Last night, they’ve agreed to sit down and the staffs are going to sit down today or tomorrow to try to begin to see if we can get a real good Covid relief bill,” the minority leader said during a news conference yesterday. “So there’s been a little bit of a breakthrough in that McConnell’s folks are finally sitting down and talking to us.” Republican and Democratic congressional aides, however, told NBC News that Schumer might have oversold the development, as both sides begin negotiations on government funding to stave off a government shutdown on Dec. 11. Read more.
