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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Rebecca Speare-Cole

Donald Trump signs historic $2.2 trillion rescue package into law as coronavirus infections pass 100,000

President Donald Trump signs the coronavirus stimulus relief package in the Oval Office at the White House (Picture: AP)

US President Donald Trump has signed an historic $2.2 trillion (£1.78 trillion) coronavirus rescue package into law.

It came after the US Congress passed what has become the biggest economic relief bill in US history.

Strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans on Friday voted in favour of the sweeping measure.

It aims to support the US economy and health care system left flailing by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The package will ship payments of up to $1,200 (£970) to millions of Americans, bolster unemployment benefits, offer loans, and grants and tax breaks to businesses.

It will also send billions more to states, local governments and the nation's all but overwhelmed health care system.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is flanked by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer as she displays the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid bill (REUTERS)

Meanwhile, a surge in infections took the US total over 100,000 - the highest in the world - amid warnings that the pandemic is accelerating in cities like New York, Chicago and Detroit.

The worldwide total has topped 570,000, and the death toll has climbed to more than 25,000, while more than 127,000 have recovered.

President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing ceremony for H.R. 748, the CARES Act in the Oval Office of the White House (Getty Images)

"The American people deserve a government-wide, visionary, evidence-based response to address these threats to their lives and their livelihood. And they need it now," said House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Passage of came after Democratic and Republican leaders banded together and outmanoeuvred maverick Republican Thomas Massie, who tried delaying the bill.

Mr Trump tweeted that Mr Massie is "a third rate Grandstander" and said he should be drummed out of the party. "He is a disaster for America, and for the Great State of Kentucky!"

Friday's House session followed an extraordinary 96-0 Senate vote late on Wednesday.

The passing of the bill came after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said the economy "may well be in recession" already, and the government reported a 3.3 million burst of weekly jobless claims, more than four times the previous record.

The US death toll from the virus rose to 1,300.

It is unlikely to be the end of the federal response.

Ms Pelosi said issues like more generous food stamp payments, aid to state and local governments and family leave may be revisited in subsequent legislation.

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