尽管美国金融领导人可能对美国是否正在走向经济复苏存在分歧，但民主党人和共和党人基本上都同意，包括另一个刺激方案在内的额外措施是不可避免的。
然而，这一切都要等到国会结束7月4日的休会之后，为期两周的休假使立法陷入停滞。
随着立法者的离开，事情就变成这样了。
两党在公私伙伴关系上的及时行动
本周，民主党人的一个策略离开了参议院:延长工资保护计划，根据现行法律，该计划将于6月底到期。
即使在最后期限临近之际，PPP仍有1340亿美元要捐赠，但毫无疑问，它一直存在缺陷。但是，与其让小企业在国会休假期间申请该项目的最后期限过去，延期意味着企业可以继续申请到8月份。
与此同时，共和党人和民主党人一直在讨论修正该计划的想法。自4月份启动以来，该计划已经发放了超过5130亿美元的可宽恕贷款。
参议院小企业委员会主席马尔科·卢比奥认为，许多需要购买力平价的小企业已经得到了它，并且已经用光了它。“我们真正需要尽快通过的是有针对性地帮助那些需要第二轮援助的人，”他说。
其他共和党人，如共和党参议员约翰·图恩，支持卢比奥的想法，即减少资金，增加援助的针对性。
“它将更多地由损失驱动，以需求为基础，有针对性，而不是仅仅把钱挤出来，”图恩说。
至于民主党人，众议院小企业委员会主席、众议员尼迪亚·维拉兹克斯(Nydia Velazquez)要求在她同意任何人获得第二轮贷款之前，获得更多关于谁获得了第一轮购买力平价贷款的数据。
纽约州众议员尼迪亚·贝拉斯克斯在2020年6月30日国会山举行的众议院金融服务委员会关于冠状病毒反应的听证会上提问。tasos Katopdis/AP
“我们知道有400万企业访问了该计划。但是数以百万计的少数民族和妇女拥有的企业却无法进入该项目，这又如何呢?”委拉斯开兹周二在众议院金融服务委员会上表示。
来自纽约的民主党人韦拉兹奎兹说:“除非我们知道大多数苦苦挣扎的企业都有机会获得贷款，否则任何人都不应该获得第二笔贷款。”。
该计划的实际变化可能会与下一个刺激计划挂钩。
失业津贴
每周600美元的失业救济金的前景仍不明朗。
最后一项关怀法案每周给每个申请失业保险的人额外600美元，这是他们从州政府获得的正常失业金额之外的额外收入。但它将于7月31日到期，离国会返回还不到两周。
根据最新的失业报告，超过十分之一的美国人，即11.1%仍然失业。
周三，民主党人提出了一个选项，让该计划持续到7月31日之后。
这项立法由少数党领袖查克·舒默和财政排名成员罗恩·怀登提出，将建立一个“触发”机制，将失业率与失业救济金挂钩。只要失业率保持在11%以上，600美元的奖金就会保持不变。随着各州失业率的下降，奖金每下降一个百分点将减少100美元。
但最新的失业报告还显示，自5月份以来，美国经济新增了近500万个就业岗位，当时失业率为13.3%，这是一个衡量增长的指标，共和党人认为这意味着他们不应干预。
宾夕法尼亚州共和党参议员帕特·图米说:“我只是认为这突显了经济反弹的速度，我们不应该做任何事情来破坏它。”。
但两党的一些议员警告称，骚乱仍在预料之中。周四公布的就业数据是在最近COVID-19案件激增导致一些州推迟重新开放计划之前编制的。
“你必须生活在乡村俱乐部的梦幻之地，才能相信这场经济危机即将结束，”威登说。
威登提出这个“触发提案”已经有几个星期了，但它在共和党人中间获得的支持相对较少。周三在参议院，他呼吁共和党人向面临7月份日落的选民提供一些安全感。
怀登说:“我们有道义上的责任，不要背弃那些受苦受难的人。”。“我要告诉你，参议院将会回家，参议员们将会清楚地听到，工人们担心7月31日之后他们是否能够支付房租，他们是否能够购买食品杂货。”
尽管共和党人反对延长失业计划，认为600美元的奖金阻碍了他们重返工作岗位，但一些著名的共和党人表示，他们支持某种额外的失业支持。
俄亥俄州参议员罗布·波特曼(Rob Portman)提议向重返工作岗位的个人发放奖金，而爱荷华州参议员查克·格拉斯利则表示，他支持采取某种措施，防止领取失业奖金的人在奖金发放结束后“坠入悬崖”。
直接影响支付
早在4月份，美国国内税收署就实施了一项快速的权宜之计来应对经济停滞，向近1.6亿美国人提供高达1200美元的直接支票。
自那以后，美国人表示，他们希望看到另一轮直接影响支付，白宫似乎愿意接受这一呼吁。
白宫国家经济委员会主任拉里·库德洛在福克斯商业频道上说，这是“摆在桌面上的”，不过他说，付款也可能以退税的形式出现。
“我认为退税或直接邮寄支票已经摆在桌面上。这都是预先决定的，很多讨论还在继续。库德洛说:“也许我们会把目标对准那些失去工作、最需要帮助的人。
总统也在福克斯商业频道的采访中表示支持新一轮的支付，但不清楚这些支付将如何体现。
美国国税局为帮助对抗COVID-19病毒爆发的不利经济影响而签发的一份刺激支票上，唐纳德·特朗普总统的名字。《迈阿密先驱报》/TNS通过盖蒂图片
但是许多共和党人并没有与库德洛或总统步调一致。另一方面，众议院的民主党人不仅呼吁进行新一轮的支付，还呼吁将每个有孩子的家庭的支付金额增加600美元。
然而，在第一轮刺激措施出台之前，还有一些悬而未决的问题需要解决。
根据无党派政府问责办公室(GAO)6月25日发布的一份关于关怀法案的报告，14亿美元中有110万美元支付给了死者。
作为一种解决方案，美国政府问责局建议财政部和美国国税局同时掌握死亡数据，以“帮助确保对个人的直接支付的完整性，如果国会在未来考虑这类援助的话。”
下一个刺激计划的大主题
周二，多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔概述了三个主题，他说共和党人将在他们的下一个提案中关注这三个主题:孩子、工作和医疗保健。
麦康奈尔说:“为了回归正常，我们的国家将需要K-12和大学生来恢复他们的学业，我们将需要重新启动招聘，让工人们重返工作岗位，我们将需要在医疗保健方面继续取得进展，为秋冬季节做好准备，并加快疫苗的研发。”。
麦康奈尔和其他共和党人也坚定地支持一项法律例外，以保护企业、学校和医疗保健提供者，他们担心，如果人们在重新开业时生病，他们将面临法律诉讼。
预计共和党人将在休会后的7月底落笔。
但是随着冠状病毒病例的激增，民主党人痛斥共和党人迟迟不采取未来救助方案。为了激发对他们事业的支持，民主党人在整个星期里向参议院提交了许多冠状病毒缓解提案，但几乎都失败了。
这些建议包括给予租金援助、食品援助、暂停驱逐、养老院援助等。
Congress is on recess for 2 weeks. Here’s where they leave off on COVID-19 relief.
While America’s financial leaders may be split about whether the U.S. is on its way to economic recovery, both Democrats and Republicans largely agree that additional measures -- including another stimulus package -- is inevitable.
It will all have to wait, however, until after Congress returns from its Fourth of July recess, a two-week vacation that leaves legislation at a standstill.
As the legislators depart, here’s where things stand.
Bipartisan action in the nick of time on PPP
One play by the Democrats moved off the Senate floor this week: an extension to the Paycheck Protection Program, which expired at the end of June under current law.
PPP, which still had $134 billion to give even as the deadline neared, has undoubtedly been plagued with flaws. But rather than let the deadline for small businesses to apply for the program pass while Congress is on vacation, the extension means businesses can continue to apply through August.
In the meantime, Republicans and Democrats have batted around ideas to fix the program, which has doled out more than $513 billion in forgivable loans since it was launched in April.
Senate Small Business Committee Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., argued that many small businesses that needed PPP have already gotten it -- and used it up. "What we really need to pass very soon is targeted help for those who need a second round of aid," he said.
Other Republicans, like Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., have supported Rubio’s idea of less money but more targeted aid.
"It’d be driven more by losses, be needs-based and targeted as opposed to kind of just pushing money out," Thune said.
As for the Democrats, Rep. Nydia Velázquez, chair of the House Small Business Committee, demanded more data on who had gotten the first round of PPP loans before she would agree to anyone getting a second loan.
"We know that 4 million businesses accessed the program. But what about the millions of minority- and women-owned businesses that were not able to access the program?" Velázquez said during a House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday.
"No one should get a second loan unless we know most businesses that are struggling get a chance to get a loan," said Velázquez, a Democrat from New York.
Actual changes to the program will likely be tied to the next stimulus package.
Unemployment Benefits
The future is still unclear on the $600 per week of unemployment benefits.
The last CARES Act gave an extra $600 a week to everyone in the country who applied for unemployment insurance, on top of the regular unemployment amount they would receive from the state. But it expires on July 31, less than two weeks after Congress returns.
And more than one in 10 Americans, or 11.1%, are still unemployed, according to the latest joblessness report.
On Wednesday, Democrats introduced an option to keep the program going past July 31.
The legislation, introduced by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden, would create a "trigger" mechanism, tying the rate of unemployment benefits to the unemployment rate. As long as unemployment remains above 11%, $600 bonuses would remain in place. As the unemployment in each state drops, the bonus would reduce by $100 dollars for each percentage point.
But the latest joblessness report also showed nearly 5 million new jobs were added to the U.S. economy since May, when the unemployment rate was 13.3%, a measure of growth that Republicans took to mean they shouldn’t interfere.
"I just think it underscores how quickly the economy is rebounding, and we shouldn't do anything to derail that," said Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
But some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have warned that tumult is still expected. The job numbers released Thursday were compiled before the recent surge in COVID-19 cases caused some states to delay their reopening plans.
"You've got to be living in a country club fantasy land to believe that this economic crisis is anywhere close to ending," Wyden said.
Wyden has floated this "trigger proposal" for several weeks, but it has gained relatively little traction with Republicans. On the Senate floor Wednesday, he called on Republicans to offer constituents who are facing the July sunset of benefits some sense of security moving forward.
"We've got a moral obligation to not turn our back on those who are suffering," Wyden said. "And I'm telling you the Senate is going to go home and Senators are going to hear loud and clear that workers are concerned about whether after July 31 they're going to be able to pay rent, they're going to be able to buy groceries."
While Republicans have objected to an extension of the unemployment program, arguing that the $600 bonus serves as a disincentive for returning to work, some prominent Republicans have said they support some sort of additional unemployment support.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, has proposed a bonus for individuals returning to work, while Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has said he supports some sort of measure that would prevent those receiving the unemployment bonus from "falling off a cliff" when it ends.
Direct Impact Payments
Back in April, the Internal Revenue Service executed a quick band-aid effort to combat economic standstill, delivering direct checks of up to $1,200 to nearly 160 million Americans.
Since then, Americans have said they’d like to see another round of direct impact payments, a call the White House seems to be receptive to.
It’s "on the table," Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, said on Fox Business, though the payment could also come in the form of tax rebates, he said.
"I think the tax rebates or the direct mail checks are on the table. This is all pre decisional, a lot of discussion going on. Probably we would want to target those to folks who lost their jobs and are most in need,” Kudlow said.
The president, too, has expressed support for another round of payments in an interview with Fox Business, but was unclear about how those payments would manifest.
But many Republicans are not in lockstep with the Kudlow or the president. Democrats in the House, on the other hand, have called for not only another round of payments, but to increase the amount for families with children by $600 per child.
There are, however, outstanding issues from the first round of stimulus checks that would need to be addressed before another goes out.
According to a report on the CARES Act by the nonpartisan Government Office of Accountability (GAO) published on June 25, 1.1 million of the $1.4 billion in payments went to dead people.
As a solution, GAO recommended getting death data in the hands of both Treasury and the IRS to "help ensure the integrity of direct payments to individuals if Congress considers this type of assistance in the future."
Broad themes of the next stimulus package
On Tuesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell outlined three main themes he says Republicans will focus on in their next proposal: kids, jobs and healthcare.
"To step back toward normalcy our country will need K-12 and college students to resume their schooling, we will need to re-energize hiring to get workers their jobs back, and we'll need continued progress in the health care fight to get ready for the fall and winter and speed the search for a vaccine," McConnell said.
McConnell and fellow Republicans have also adamantly supported a legal carve-out to protect businesses, schools and health care providers who are afraid they’ll face lawsuits if people get sick when they reopen.
Republicans are expected to put pen to paper in late July, after the recess.
But as the number of coronavirus cases surge, Democrats have lambasted Republicans for slow-walking future relief packages. In an effort to galvanize support for their cause, Democrats brought a number of coronavirus relief proposals to the Senate floor throughout the week, almost all of which failed.
Those included proposals that would have granted rental assistance, food assistance, a moratorium on evictions, aid for nursing homes, among others.
