The swift arrival of a new coronavirus variant has rekindled economic anxieties in Washington, D.C., as congressional lawmakers, business leaders and consumer advocates begin to worry whether there is enough federal aid to shield Americans from another round of financial despair, the Washington Post reported. Over the course of the nearly two-year pandemic, Congress has committed nearly $6 trillion toward combating the contagion and bringing a battered economy back from the brink. But some of the most significant programs to keep businesses afloat and help households pay bills have expired or run out of funds, raising new risks for the future of the country’s recovery, particularly as the omicron variant wave begins to take hold. There’s no federal money left to keep restaurants open. The aid for concert halls and other customer-starved performance spaces has nearly gone dry. Federal officials ended their primary effort that pumped money into small businesses with sagging balance sheets, and they stopped paying out extra sums to workers who are out of a job. Federal student loan protections are expiring imminently, meaning students’ bills are set to come due early next year. A stimulus initiative under President Biden that provided monthly payments to more than 35 million families with children may have issued its last round of deposits this past Wednesday. And attempts to extend those tax benefits — or address a wider array of longer-term financial issues facing parents — have stalled again on Capitol Hill. “I’m concerned that you’re going to have many, many vulnerable Americans, Americans with young children for example, falling between the cracks,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), adding: “January looks like a tough month with respect to omicron.”
