The White House considered payments for US residents because of COVID-19 too large

The package of measures to stimulate the economy in the context of the pandemic of coronavirus infection, adopted in the United States in March, involved too large payments to the country's citizens, said White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on ABC. The initial unemployment payments, in fact, assumed that people were paid to sit at home. In fact, many people, sitting at home, received more than after returning to work, he said. According to Meadows, the administration of US President Donald Trump and representatives of the Republican Party in the Senate decided to take this into account when developing a new aid plan. In particular, the White House decided to abandon the increase of $600 to monthly unemployment benefits for citizens. Instead, Americans will receive about 70% of the pay they received before the pandemic. At the same time, White House economic adviser Larry Cadlow emphasized that payments to US citizens make economic recovery difficult. According to him, small businesses cannot find employees for small wages.