(2 Dec 2020) President-elect Joe Biden met virtually Wednesday with Americans who have been hard-hit economically by the coronavirus pandemic, telling them it will be "hard as hell" but the nation will recover and "get through this."
Biden heard from Karen Coffey, who has been out of work since March when her job at a Detroit stadium shut down due to COVID. Coffey had been an employee at Little Caesars Arena for 30 years .
She tearfully told the president-elect that "it's been rough," and Americans like her are "really suffering."
Biden told Coffey and others with similar stories of joblessness for much of this year that help is on the way.
"I really don't want you giving up hope. I promise you, hang on, we're going to get through this," he said.
Biden told the group that he doesn't have real ability to act until he takes the oath of office on January 20th, but he said he's urging members of Congress to pass a relief package before the end of the year and he appeared to back a $908-billion bipartisan effort that seeks to find middle ground.
Neither Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supports the bipartisan proposal at this point but Biden underscored that Americans "need help now."
He also said any package passed during the so-called "lame duck session between now and January 21st at best, is only going to be a down payment on what's going to happen early next year."
Biden also issued a dire warning about the spread of the coronavirus over the next two months, predicting as many as 250,000 deaths.
"We're likely to lose another 250,000 people dead between now and January," Biden said. "You hear me? Because people aren't paying attention."
Biden did not offer details to back up his assessment, which is far bleaker than projections by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other experts. His transition team did not immediately respond to a request to clarify the remarks.
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