Long stimulus wait causes pain

Since Congress passed a $2 trillion stimulus law in March — the CARES Act — lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have been unable to agree on another stimulus bill. Talks reached an impasse over the weekend, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned recently that the U.S. economy risks a prolonged period of weakness without more support. Over 800,000 Americans filed jobless claims during the week ended on Oct. 3.

In the meantime, other major features of the CARES Act have expired:

• Expanded jobless benefits, which provided $600 extra in weekly unemployment payments, expired at the end of July.
• The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provided loans to help small business keep workers on payroll, expired the first week of August.
• The Payroll Support Program, which dedicated $25 billion in federal funding to support airlines, expired at the end of September.

In the Editors Picks below, LinkedIn members share how the economic downturn has affected people across the country.