Senate approves $2.2T stimulus plan, house to vote Friday

Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous, Brian Sozzi, Dan Roberts and Jess Smith discuss the details of the $2 trillion stimulus deal and what impact it could have on the economy.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right, we have this rally on Wall Street, mainly because there is a $2 trillion stimulus package that is expected to be passed later today or tomorrow in the House. Want to get the latest on this from Jessica Smith. Jess, first off, what's in this stimulus package?

JESS SMITH: Yeah, well, we've talked about some of the provisions. The main ones have stayed in place. The $1,200 check to taxpayers, $500 for a child. We also have the $500 billion going to industries that are hard hit and $350 billion for small businesses as well as enhanced unemployment insurance. That did cause a bit of a hiccup yesterday.

There were four senators who just did not approve of that enhanced unemployment insurance. The Senate ended up rejecting their changes that they had proposed, and they've went on to approve this bill 96 to 0. So no one voted against this bill. There were four senators who didn't take part in the vote, because they were in self-quarantine. Senator Thune, at the last minute, said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to isolate himself from the other senators.

Now it does move on to the House. We do expect a House vote tomorrow morning. Speaker Pelosi has said she wanted to see some debate in the House, and she expects this to go by voice vote. So not everyone would have to come back to DC to vote on this. They're trying to limit the amount of people that are going into the capitol, that are traveling across the country to get here.

So we expect this again tomorrow morning and by voice vote, but we're still waiting on some details on that. We are expecting to hear from Speaker Pelosi at 10:45 at her weekly press conference, so maybe we'll get some more details on how this is going to work at that time.

BRIAN SOZZI: Jess, Brian here. You're getting the sense that this only might be the first round of stimulus. Are you hearing any talks that there might be something else coming looking out over the next month or two?

JESS SMITH: Well, the Senate is going to be gone until April 10 now. They're leaving Washington until April 20 unless there is an urgent need for them to come back. Yesterday, at the task force press conference, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said that he anticipated that this would keep the economy afloat for three months, though he hopes that it wouldn't be needed for that long.

There have been rumblings of a phase four or a phase five at one point, but there's nothing official on that front yet. Lawmakers are really focused on this round. But this is really a relief package. And there are some rumblings, some rumors that they could need eventually a phase four as more of an actual stimulus package.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: And just going back to those expanded unemployment benefits, I understand that it does now consider contracted workers, all of those millions of people who are part of the gig economy-- talking about those Uber and Lyft drivers and so forth. What exactly does it extend to them?

JESS SMITH: This is the first time that freelancers and gig workers are able to take advantage of these unemployment insurance, this expansion. It is now in addition to the usual payments. It's $600 on top of that per week. And so that is the new expanded insurance that people who have been laid off because of coronavirus will be eligible for.

DAN ROBERTS: Hey Jess, it's Dan here. Let me just ask what you've heard about the extent to which cruises will be included in this. There were rumblings that cruises are going to be part of the package, but maybe not by name. Maybe the administration realizes that at this time, quite a lot of the public does not want to see cruises bailed out.

JESS SMITH: Yeah, I don't know that it is specifically mentioned in this bill. Again, it's 800-some pages, so we're still digging through it here. I don't think they're mentioned by name, but there is that provision that says industries that are hard hit by this. So you would think they would be eligible for some help in that regard.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right, Jessica Smith, thanks for that deeper dive into the stimulus package, which as you say will be voted on by the House tomorrow. President Trump has already said he is ready to sign it immediately and hopefully get those checks out to Americans very quickly. We heard from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin this morning saying those checks could be in the hands of Americans in the next two to three weeks.