Bernie Sanders Fights for Laid-off Worker Protections in $2 Trillion Stimulus with Corporate Bailout

Bernie Sanders Fights for Laid-off Worker Protections in $2 Trillion Stimulus with Corporate Bailout

The Senate unanimously approved a historic $2.2 trillion emergency relief package late Wednesday night to battle the unprecedented economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The House will consider the bill Friday before it goes to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law. 

The bill would massively expand unemployment benefits, providing laid-off workers up to 100% of their salary and health insurance benefits for four months. Vermont senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders successfully fought to strengthen the bill’s assistance to laid-off workers, and voted “yes” even as he warned about the bill’s corporate bailout fund. “We do not need, at this moment in history, to provide a massive amount of corporate welfare to large profitable corporations,” Sanders said in a video explaining his vote.