Last week, President Trump passed a bill to release over $2 trillion for a stimulus package in an attempt to relieve the economic strains caused by the spreading COVID-19.

This price tag could grab anyone’s attention. Yet, even more magnetizing is the $250 billion that all independent Americans will be receiving. Most American independents will receive $1,200 each from the package and an additional $500 for each dependent under their care.

Furthermore, the bill accounts for lower-income persons and families, meaning that individuals with a gross income of or below $75,000 and married couples earning $150,000 or less can be sent more than the received amount named previously. This fund grows increasingly in relation to the lower the annual income, capping off at $99,000 for individuals and $198,000 for couples.

The package has been passed in the Senate with a unanimous vote (96-0) and is now waiting to go through the House, expectedly by way of voice vote to avoid convening all members in one location.

The reaction to this bill from our campus has included some disapproval from parts of the student body due to the fact that most are filed as dependents under their parents and will not be receiving a check as a result.

The country now displays empty stores and lazy streets. Millions are unable to work and few of them are able to continue living comfortably without periodic paychecks.

Here reveals one of the most important motives behind the stimulus package. Millions in America have a severely heightened need for assisting income; the package will provide an aid to this problem.

Of course this legislation is not perfect and, unfortunately, will not account for everyone being negatively affected by the current halted economy. To add brutal honesty to the argument, in general, students of ACU are not going to be the ones at the top of the list for those in need of aid. Dependants of ACU are not typically the ones living paycheck-to-paycheck. We are not typically the ones stretching out a hand to save us and the Federal Gov’t is not the one grabbing it.

For those who truly feel that they need the assistance of the package, it is very unlikely that they can file for independence in time to receive it, but the opportunity remains still. However, this decision would come at the loss of one’s parent’s healthcare, insurances, and general financial aid.

None of our problems are to be invalidated because others have bigger. However, if that problem is simply paying utilities, we must all understand that the money must go to someone else in greater need.

We can all understand the impulse to list one’s many problems and inconveniences caused by the virus as soon as there is talk of the financial aid because no one’s list would be short at this point. But, the last conclusion we should be coming to is that because someone is getting a check handed to them that we deserve one also.

The world that exists from our university is an incredibly fortunate one. For most of us, parents account for more financial security than we will often recognize. We should rather take this time of dormant work living to spend time with those families and appreciate the gifts they give us. For most of us, this will be the most time we ever spend with our families from now on.

The stimulus package comes far from solving the financial problems that most every American is facing right now. However, it offers $130 billion to the struggling hospitals, $500 billion in loans to the smaller companies that can’t stay open, and offers extended unemployment funds to the millions that face problems each day that we never have to think about.