The U.S. lost a stunning 22 million jobs in March and April at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with only about half of those numbers returning in the following seven months. With weekly jobless claims remaining high, voters might want to know more about what former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump intend to do on the issue of labor.
Biden has pledged to do whatever it takes to help jobs recover through direct stimulus payments. His plan includes funding for state and local governments to keep essential workers on their payrolls and federal payouts to supplement state unemployment checks.
Meanwhile, Trump favors tax cuts and deregulation to stimulate the economy but concedes that another infusion of cash stimulus is likely needed. The president also extended federal unemployment benefits for six weeks after they were set to expire in July but at a lower rate of $300 a week, half the amount of the earlier benefit.
Both candidates support tax incentives for manufacturers to keep jobs at home. Biden even proposes tax penalties for those businesses that ship manufacturing jobs overseas with the intention of selling finished products back into the U.S.
Whoever wins the election in November faces a daunting task, with millions still out of work, consumer spending slowing down, and a resurgence in coronavirus cases adding to the economic woes.
Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip are scrambling to find safety, as Israeli strikes demolish entire neighborhoods, hospitals run low on supplies and a power blackout is expected within hours.
The U.S. has already begun delivering critically needed munitions and military equipment to Israel, and the State Department now says that at least 11 American citizens have been killed in the weekend Hamas attacks on Israel.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a bill on Sunday that would have made free condoms available to all public high school students, arguing it was too expensive for a state with a budget deficit of more than $30 billion.
Israel’s military ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip on Monday, halting entry of food, fuel and supplies to its 2.3 million people as it pounded the Hamas-ruled territory with waves of airstrikes in retaliation for the militants’ bloody weekend incursion.
Donald Trump’s lawyers asked a New York appeals court Friday to halt his Manhattan civil fraud trial while they fight a court ruling that calls for dissolving companies that control some of the former president’s most prized assets, including Trump Tower.
