Sunday's announcement was a tacit acknowledgment the president had been too optimistic just days earlier when he said he hoped reopen the economy by Easter on April 12.
“Frontline workers like us are getting hit the hardest right now,” said one McDonald’s cook in Raleigh. “McDonald’s is calling itself an ‘essential business’ but isn’t providing us with the essential protections we need to be safe at work.”
The U.S. now has more than 82,000 confirmed cases, surpassing China, where the virus first spread and 81,782 people have fallen sick as of Thursday evening.
"My alma mater’s motto is Pro humanitate. Literally, for humanity. You know that phrase, too. You also graduated from Wake Forest. And yet your first impulse is to serve yourself."
The bill includes a $1,200 check for most Americans, expanded unemployment benefits, plus substantial help for small businesses, hospitals, and corporations.