Here’s What’s in the $908 Billion Covid Relief Package

By Yuval Rosenberg

Lawmakers Unveil $908 Billion Coronavirus
Relief Package

Split Into Two Bills

A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Monday unveiled the details
of their $908 billion plan to provide emergency relief for the U.S.
economy.

Speaking at a press conference in Washington, Sen. Joe Manchin
(D-WV) dropped two bills onto the podium, one outlining a wide
range of relief spending totaling $748 billion and another that
combines $160 billion in state and local government funding with
Covid-related liability protections for businesses, schools and
other organizations.

The larger bill, which has unanimous backing from the group of
lawmakers, includes:

  • enhanced unemployment benefits of $300 per week for 16
    weeks;
  • an extension of emergency unemployment assistance
    programs;
  • $300 billion for small business loans and grants through the
    Paycheck Protection Program;
  • $82 billion for education, including $54 billion for K-12;
  • $45 billion for transportation, including airlines and public
    transport;
  • $35 billion for health care providers;
  • $25 billion for rental assistance;
  • an extension of the eviction moratorium until January 31;
  • $16 billion for testing, tracing and vaccine distribution;
  • $13 billion for food assistance;
  • $13 billion for farmers, ranchers and fisheries;
  • $10 billion for broadband;
  • student loan forbearance extended until April 1, 2021.

The second bill contains the more controversial issues that
still divide the negotiators, largely along partisan lines. It
includes a formula and timetable for the dispersal of $152 billion
in aid for state and local governments, along with $8 billion for
native American populations. And it provides legal protection for
organizations and standards for lawsuits in the wake of the
pandemic.

The group divided the bills to make it possible to jettison the
controversial elements while still moving ahead with the bulk of
the relief spending.

What’s not in the bill: The package does not include
direct payments, an idea that is popular with most Americans and a
handful of lawmakers, including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Bernie
Sanders (I-VT).

“Congress cannot go home for the Christmas holidays until we
pass legislation which provides a $1,200 direct payment to working
class adults, $2,400 for couples and a $500 payment to their
children,” Sanders said Monday.

Sanders urged Democratic leaders to reject any deal that fails
to include individual payments. And he criticized the relatively
small size of the bipartisan proposal, which relies largely on
unused funds from an earlier relief effort. “What kind of
negotiation is it when you go from $3.4 trillion to $188 billion in
new money? That is not a negotiation. That is a collapse,” Sanders

told Politico.

What’s next: While the lawmakers said the bills are ready
for a vote, it’s up to leaders in the House and Senate to move the
package forward. “Now it's up to the leadership to take it, and
make this happen on a timely basis," Manchin said.

Much depends on whether congressional leaders are willing to
embrace money state and local governments and liability protections
for businesses — or leave them both behind.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) spoke about the
need for additional Covid relief Monday. “The next several days are
going to bring about one of two outcomes,” McConnell said. “Either
100 senators will be here shaking our heads, slinging blame and
offering excuses about why we still have not been able to make a
law . . . or we will break for the holidays having sent another
huge dose of relief out the door for the people who need it.”

McConnell did not mention the bipartisan proposal directly.

Liability Shield Isn’t a Priority for Americans: Poll

Another round of individual stimulus checks is at the top of
most Americans’ lists for the next coronavirus relief bill,
according to a new
poll from Yahoo Finance-Harris.

Asked what they thought was most important to include in the
next coronavirus relief bill, 66% of the 2,027 people polled said
stimulus checks — the only provision to win majority support. About
47% cited aid for small businesses, while 38% said expanded
unemployment benefits.

Liability protections for businesses were less popular, cited by
just 23% of respondents, with only student loan forbearance earning
less support at 20%.

Gbenga Ajilore, a senior economist at the Center for American
Progress, told Yahoo that she wasn’t surprised by the results. “The
liability shield just doesn't make sense to people. People don't
understand why that would be a priority,” Ajilore said. “A
liability shield is not going to put food on the table, it’s not
going to keep people in their homes.”

Congressional Negotiators Close In on $1.4 Trillion Spending
Bill

House and Senate negotiators are reportedly closing in on an
agreement on a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill for fiscal year
2021, which began October 1. The deal would avert a government
shutdown after midnight on Friday and provide a legislative vehicle
for a potential Covid-relief package and other items left on the
lame-duck Congress’ year-end agenda.

Roll Call’s Jennifer Shutt and Paul M. Krawzak
report:

“Negotiators have reached compromises on some of the thorniest
issues including border wall spending, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement detention capacity and funding for veterans health care
programs. A handful of smaller items sent to congressional leaders
remain to be worked out, but a full agreement is close… .”

Text of the legislation reportedly could be filed on
Tuesday.

One of the issues holding up the spending package was a
disagreement over how to handle $12.5 billion in funding for
programs that allow certain veterans to get health care outside VA
facilities. Roll Call reports that House Minority Leader Kevin
McCarthy had objected to allowing that funding to be deemed
“emergency” spending and excluded from agreed-upon spending caps, a
plan that appropriators had agreed upon in order to avoid other
cuts to non-defense programs. In the end, negotiators reportedly
will keep the funding under the non-defense spending cap and use
other accounting maneuvers to offset the cost.

An end to surprise medical bills? Long-delayed
legislation to protect patients from being hit with “surprise”
medical bills reportedly could also be rolled into the spending
package after key lawmakers
struck a bipartisan agreement late Friday on the
divisive measure. You can read more about the details of the
agreement here.

The deal could still face hurdles. “While House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer quickly announced
their support for the bipartisan, bicameral legislation, Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been conspicuously quiet,”
Vox’s Dylan Scott
reports. “His office has simply told
reporters they are reviewing the plan. And that’s a big
problem if this deal, breakthrough though it is, is ever going to
become law and actually put a stop to most surprise bills.”

Read more at
Roll Call or
Politico.

Trump Cites Another Reason He’ll Veto Defense Bill

President Trump has repeatedly threatened to veto the $741
billion National Defense Authorization Act, demanding that it be
revised to include a repeal Section 230 of the Communications
Decency Act, which some Republicans say allows tech firms like
Facebook and Twitter to censor conservative voices.

Trump has cited other causes of concern, too, including the
renaming of military bases that honor Confederate leaders and new
restrictions on his ability to remove troops from Afghanistan. On
Sunday, he added another reason to the list: “The biggest winner of
our new defense bill is China! I will veto!”

The president has until December 23 to decide what to do with
the bill. Should he issue a veto, some lawmakers have vowed to
override it.

“This latest veto threat is further proof that he cares
more about himself than our troops and the safety of the American
people,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) said of Trump in a statement Sunday.
“Now Congress must come together on a bipartisan basis and override
this senseless veto and provide for the common defense.”

Heads of New York, LA and Chicago Schools Call for Direct
Federal Help

The superintendents of the three largest school districts in the
country — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — write in a Washington
Post op-ed that their schools, and others across the country, need
direct funding from the federal government to get students safely
back in classrooms:

“It’s time to treat the dire situation facing public school
students with the same federal mobilization we have come to expect
for other national emergencies, such as floods, wildfires and
hurricanes. A major, coordinated nationwide effort — imagine a
Marshall Plan for schools — is needed to return children to public
schools quickly in the safest way possible. …
“The cost of this lifeline for schools — an estimated $125
billion — is less than 20 percent of the
total earmarked for the Paycheck Protection
Program and about twice the amount
provided to airlines. That’s a relatively small
price to safely reopen the public schools that give millions of
children a shot at the American Dream and their families the chance
to get back to work.”


Read the full piece at The Washington Post.

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