Coronavirus Relief Package – Passage

Passage of the bill, as amended, that would provide roughly $3 trillion in funding to further address the health and economic effects of COVID-19, including almost $1 trillion for direct aid to state and local governments; $200 billion for a fund to provide hazard pay for essential workers; $75 billion for a national testing program; and funding for state and federal response related to health care, education, housing, and food supply. It would extend federal funding of expanded unemployment compensation benefits through January 2021 and provide an additional round of tax rebates of $1,200 for individuals with incomes of $75,000 or less. The bill would provide $540 billion for states, territories, and tribal governments and $375 billion for local governments to address costs and economic impacts associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. It would also provide $100.2 billion for the Education Department; over $120 billion for federal programs and $75 billion to states to provide housing and homeownership assistance; and over $14 billion for nutrition programs. It would provide $16.5 billion for the Agriculture Department to reimburse agricultural producers for losses due to COVID-19, in addition to other assistance for farmers and ranchers. It would provide $200 billion to establish a fund providing grants for employers to provide hazard pay to essential employees at $13 per hour above regular wages during the COVID-19 crisis. It would provide $75 billion to the Health and Human Services Department for a national testing and contact tracing initiative and $100 billion for HHS to reimburse health care providers for expenses and lost revenue related to COVID-19. It would increase federal contributions to state Medicaid programs and eliminate cost sharing for coronavirus treatments under Medicare and Medicaid. It would create a special enrollment period during the public health emergency for Affordable Care Act marketplace health plans and Medicare Parts A and B, and it would establish "risk corridor" programs to make federal payments to issuers of most private health insurance plans and Medicare Advantage plans. It would provide an additional tax rebate of $1200 to individuals or $2400 to those filing a joint return, increased by $1200 for each of up to three dependents. It would extend through January 2021 federal unemployment compensation benefits of up to $600 per week under previous coronavirus response legislation. It would extend through 2021 requirements for employers to provide additional sick and family leave, and expand the requirements to apply to all private employers. It would extend the Paycheck Protection Program for small business loans through 2020; remove loan forgiveness requirements related to minimum amounts used for payroll costs; and establish set-asides for businesses with 10 or fewer employees, nonprofit organizations, and community financial institutions. It would provide $45 billion for Treasury Department payment of private student loans up to $10,000 for economically distressed borrowers, and it would provide up to $10,000 of loan forgiveness for all federal student loans. It would expand a March 2020 provision to prohibit all evictions and foreclosures for one year and establish a temporary moratorium on consumer debt collection from consumers and debt collection from small businesses and nonprofits. It would provide $3.6 billion for payments to states for coronavirus response related to the 2020 elections and require states to offer same-day voter registration and an early voting period of at least 15 consecutive days. It would also provide $25 billion to the U.S. Postal Service and $410 million to the Census Bureau. Among other provisions, it would eliminate the existing $10,000 cap on federal tax deductions for state and local taxes for tax years 2020 and 2021.