House passes COVID-19 relief package and government funding plan

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published 22 December 2020

The House on Monday night passed a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill and $1.4 trillion spending package that funds the government through next September.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said there is "more work to do, and it will cost money," but the coronavirus stimulus package "will protect jobs and, most importantly, it will meet the needs of the American people — to crush this virus and to do so in a way that brings us all into the future in a very safe way."

The bipartisan package includes $600 stimulus checks and extends unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week. It also extends the moratorium on evictions until Jan. 31, provides $25 billion in emergency assistance to renters, and covers $13 billion in increased food stamps and nutrition benefits. Earlier Monday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the stimulus checks could go out as soon as next week.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.