U.S. Senate leaders and the Trump administration neared an agreement on a massive stimulus bill that could inject $2 trillion into the economy to blunt the impacts of the coronavirus.
The United States Democratic party said it is working on a big stimulus bill in response as an answer to the coronavirus epidemic and its economic impact. A version of the bill is dated March 22 and it has been circulating includes a passage that, if passed, would lead to the creation of a “digital dollar” to be used for providing stimulus payments.
As it was said, House Democrats aren’t trying to create a cryptocurrency or deploy distributed ledger technology to make it happen. But according to the draft text, the digital dollar is defined as “a balance expressed as a dollar value consisting of digital ledger entries that are recorded as liabilities in the accounts of any Federal Reserve bank; or an electronic unit of value, redeemable by an eligible financial institution (as determined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System).”
Pelosi Believes Congress Can Agree on Stimulus Deal in Hours
Just for a reminder, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that a comprehensive political agreement between all sides regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) relief bill was not reached in the Senate.
House Democrats “will be introducing” their “own bill,” Pelosi stated, before adding that “hopefully it will be compatible with what they discuss” in the upper house of the U.S. Congress.
Top four congressional leaders and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been negotiating the potential economic relief package in a meeting earlier today.
Yesterday, the U.S. President Donald Trump slammed the bill saying the GOP shouldn’t vote for a bill which includes opening the country’s borders and the Green New Deal.
Trump tweeted: “Republicans had a deal until Nancy Pelosi rode into town from her extended vacation. The Democrats want the Virus to win? They are asking for things that have nothing to do with our great workers or companies. They want Open Borders & Green New Deal. Republicans shouldn’t agree.”
Digital Dollar Details
As announced, the digital dollars would exist in a “digital dollar wallet” which is further defined as “a digital wallet or account, maintained by a Federal Reserve bank on behalf of any person, that represents holdings in an electronic device or service that is used to store digital dollars that may be tied to a digital or physical identity.”
Meanwhile, the finance ministers of G7 said in a statement released on Tuesday they are taking action and “enhancing coordination” to address the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday that United States lawmakers are “very close” to reaching an agreement on the COVID-19 stimulus bill.
On Monday, the U.S, Senate failed to reach a deal on new economic measures due to disagreements between Republicans and Democrats. Since then, Trump urged lawmakers to adopt the coronavirus relief legislation today and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed optimism about a deal being reached in the next few hours. According to White House legislative director Eric Ueland, the package is expected to be worth around $2 trillion.
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