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February 18, 2021 2:54 PM Lisa Rowan - Forbes Advisor
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Updated:
February 20, 2021 7:36 AM
With stimulus checks in their pockets, Americans felt confident to shop and spend last month beyond what economists had projected. But how long will that confidence last?
Fifty-five percent of Americans believe the economy will recover quickly once pandemic restrictions are lifted, according to the Forbes Advisor-Ipsos Consumer Confidence Weekly Tracker. While that’s just a slight increase over last week’s survey, that optimism has come a long way since the early pandemic days of April 2020, when less than half of respondents felt confident about the recovery timeline. The survey, conducted by Ipsos, measures consumer sentiment over time.
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Republican senators on Monday about a stimulus plan.Credit.Doug Mills/The New York Times
A coalition of 10 Republican senators took a stimulus counterproposal to the White House on Monday evening, urging President Biden to scale back his ambitions for a sweeping $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package in favor of a plan less than one-third the size that they argued could garner the bipartisan consensus the new president has said he is seeking.
After a two-hour closed-door meeting, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the leader of the Republican group, said the discussion had been excellent, though “I wouldn’t say that we came together on a package tonight.” She said Mr. Biden and the senators had agreed to continue their talks.