A Sinclair report which focused almost exclusively on the amount of money appropriated and spent so far to address the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States misleadingly suggested that the $1.9 trillion relief package currently under considerations would come at too high a cost. Many economists, however, say that this level of spending is necessary to help those struggling during this crisis -- and indeed some believe it's not nearly enough to ease the huge economic hardship the pandemic has inflicted on our country.

President Joe Biden’s bill, called the American Rescue Plan, includes direct economic relief such as $1,400 checks for Americans, extended unemployment insurance, housing assistance, child care assistance, paid sick leave to millions more Americans, and assistance to state and local governments for help with vaccination and schools. Republican lawmakers have floated a much smaller bill -- at less than one-third the size of Biden’s proposal -- that leaves out much needed relief.

But as many leading economists have explained, Biden’s proposed spending limit is necessary to meet the challenge of the pandemic. A letter from the leaders of the National Employment Law Center, the Economic Policy Institute, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Center for American Progress, and the Roosevelt Institute explained that “President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan—with its critical public health investments to beat COVID-19, its aid to help struggling families, and its assistance to states, localities, tribes, and territories—is an appropriate scale of new spending under current conditions." The letter also explained that the additional relief passed in December was insufficient:

Joel Friedman, a vice president at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, also explained the long-term economic dangers of not doing enough, or waiting too long to pass additional relief:

Economists Adam S. Hersh and Mark Paul argued in support of several trillion dollars more in spending relief “to get American families and businesses working at their full potential,” along with automatic triggers in case the recovery drags along. In a policy brief for The Groundwork Collaborative, an organization dedicated to advancing a progressive economic worldview, they write: “Without significantly more Congressional action American families and businesses will struggle to recover from the damages done by today’s crisis and to overcome the structural economic problems that left us so vulnerable to shocks like COVID-19.”

But these conclusions were excluded from Sinclair reporter James Rosen’s February 3 news package. Rosen only briefly mentioned that Biden was “arguing that spending more now will hasten the country's recovery, medical and economic.” Instead, his segment was largely framed around the “surprising numbers relating to the COVID crisis” that Rosen used to suggest that the relief packages that Congress had already passed appropriated more than enough money needed. Rosen’s segment aired on at least 55 Sinclair-owned or -operated local TV stations in 35 states, according to a Kinetiq transcript search -- and likely aired on many more, as it was rebroadcast on the February 4 edition of Sinclair’s The National Desk, which airs on 68 stations, many of which are not included in Kinetiq’s data.