July 31, 2020

Inside this issue

• CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly

  CCUSA Presents the Washington Weekly  
 
The Senate introduced their long anticipated COVID-19 aid package, and the U.S. Commerce Department reported the worst economic quarter in U.S. history. 

On Monday, the Senate released their version of a coronavirus relief package, the HEALS Act, setting the table for negotiations with the House. Some of the highlights of the Senate bill include measures to limit business liability from coronavirus-related lawsuits. It would also include direct payments of $1,200 per individual and an expanded unemployment benefit of $200 for two months. Another component allows smaller employers, 300 employees or less, access to a second Payment Protection Program loan. The bill doesn't include additional money for state and local governments but would allow for increased flexibility in spending the $150 billion passed in the CARES Act. 

Now the House and Senate must quickly come together to pass a bill or face a lapse of additional unemployment insurance benefits. There remain many differences between the House and Senate bills so it is unclear whether both chambers can find common ground quickly enough to stave off further economic catastrophe. 

The additional dynamic is agreeing on a bill that the White House is willing to sign into law. On Wednesday, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said that "we're nowhere close to a deal." 

The aid negotiations come on the heels of a troubling Commerce Department report which  announced that the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.) decreased 9.5 percent in the second quarter of the year. If annualized, the standard way of reporting quarterly economic data, then G.D.P. had fallen by 32.9 percent. These percentages represent a $1.8 trillion shrinking in the second quarter. This marks the greatest quarterly G.D.P. decrease on record in U.S. history. 

On Thursday, the Department of Labor announced 1.43 million people filed new unemployment claims. This is the second consecutive week that claims increased after four months of slight declines. All told, it was the 19th straight week that claims surpassed 1 million.
 
Faith and the Common Good

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who was a Spanish Basque Catholic priest and theologian, who co-founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and who became its first Superior General at Paris in 1541. The Jesuit order served the Pope as missionaries, and they were bound by a fourth vow of special obedience to the sovereign pontiff in regard to the missions. Ignatius is remembered as a talented spiritual director. He recorded his method called the Spiritual Exercises, a simple set of meditations, prayers, and other mental exercises, first published in 1548.

Prayer for Generosity
Eternal Word, only begotten Son of God,
Teach me true generosity.
Teach me to serve you as you deserve.
To give without counting the cost,
To fight heedless of wounds,
To labor without seeking rest,
To sacrifice myself without thought of any reward
Save the knowledge that I have done your will.
Amen.

Trivia
When was the first census in the United States?
Please send your answers to [email protected]
On July 24, the trivia question was, "Who was the only former American president to serve in the United States Senate?" 
Diane Zbasnik of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Cleveland was the first to correctly answer Andrew Johnson.  Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson returned to Tennessee after his presidency and gained some vindication when he was elected to the Senate in 1875, making him the only former president to serve in the Senate. He died five months into his term.

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