DOWNLOAD VIDEO Directions: Read the summary, watch the video and answer the discussion questions. Have students record what they found most significant in the summaries and ask them what they’d like to learn more about. For a transcript of the video, click here . Summary of the top news: Congress finalized a deal on Sunday for a $900 billion COVID relief bill. The long-overdue bill aims to help to businesses and individuals and provide money to deliver vaccines.

• The agreement would provide a temporary $300 per week in unemployment benefits and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans. A new round of subsidies for small businesses as well as money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction is also included.


• The bill has been debated since the passage of the CARES act last spring, which gave a $1,200 stimulus payment to most Americans and hundreds of billions of dollars to large corporations.


• One of the sticking points in the current bill is that it does not address aid for cities and states, which have lower revenue this year and greater expenses in tackling COVID. As a result, it is likely that cities and other communities will struggle to pay for services like police, firefighters and teachers, among other parts of the budget.


• Meanwhile, jobless claims continue to grow and those who can't pay rent are threatened by the end of an eviction moratorium .

Also in the news:

• The first vaccines for COVID-19 were made available to targeted recipients such as health care and other frontline workers as well as people in nursing homes. Vaccines for the general public are expected to be available in the spring.
  
  
  
  
  • Essential workers and Americans over the age of 75 are next in line for the vaccine.
  
  
  • Several politicians and some non-clinical workers have received the vaccine while some frontline workers at Stanford University protested on Friday, and others like emergency medicine physician Dr. Jen Lingeman took to social media to express upset about the distribution of the vaccine.
    
    
    
    
    • "ER, ICU, and hospitalist doctors taking care of #Covid19 patients are supposed to be group 1a, yet Utah has put us in 1B," Dr. Lingeman tweeted, "Why are we behind our colleagues in other states? We have no idea when we will be scheduled for the vaccine."
    
    
    • (See this NewsHour lesson to discuss who should receive the vaccine first.)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• A massive cyberattack hit a range of U.S. government agencies, as well as private businesses. On Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was 'pretty clearly' behind the attack, prompting pushback from Trump. The extent of risk posed by the hack is also unclear.


• President-elect Biden chose Deb Halaand as secretary of Interior in his new administration. Halaand will be the first Native American to run the powerful agency, which implements federal law and policy related to Native American tribes and lands.

Discussion: Warm up questions:

1. Who is negotiating a relief bill and why has it taken so long to finalize?


2. What are some of the consequences of no aid going to cities and states?


3. Where and When will people lose jobs if no relief for cities and states is passed?


4. Why will it take months before the vaccine is available to the general public?


5. How are the economy and COVID-19 vaccination schedules tied together?

Focus questions:

1. Do you think state and local COVID-19 relief is important? If so, why? Why did Congress not include state and local relief in their final version of the bill from the weekend?


2. What do you think is the single highest priority for economic relief for Congress to address while a vaccine remains unavailable to the general public?

Media literacy: What news do you think was most important from this summary? What important news are you aware of that was left out? Additional resources:

 

Want to learn more about how Congress negotiates bills like the relief bill? Use this resource from iCivics to learn more about the politics involved, the president's role and the Senate's role. Note: You'll need to register for a free iCivics account in order to access the lesson plan. In this lesson, students will:

• Identify the constitutional powers of Congress.


• Simulate the decision making process of voting as a member of Congress.


• Describe factors that members of Congress consider when deciding how to vote on a bill.

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