July 15, 2020

Surging coronavirus infections. Bars and gyms forced to reshut their doors. Talk of new layoffs. The economy's check-engine light is blinking red again.

As lawmakers return to work next week to debate a new stimulus package with a price tag in the trillions, the summer Covid-19 sequel is playing a lot like the spring original. The urgency this time isn’t so much to cushion the economic blow, but to keep the nascent economic recovery on track.

The worrying data points are accumulating:

California, accounting for nearly 15 percent of the national economy, abruptly shut down many businesses on Monday, following new closures in eight other states. The number of Americans who say they're unemployed has risen over the past three weeks, the Census Bureau has said. And leaders of some the nation’s largest companies warned this week that they’re bracing for a longer, more painful recession than they initially expected.

Read more:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/15/congress-pressure-pandemic-recovery-364915