(Paul Vigna) The Senate is expected to begin debate today on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that passed the House last week.
by Paul Vigna, March 3rd, 2021
Democrats say it’s much needed assistance for individuals, businesses and state and local governments, and a needed economic stimulus. Republicans, who appear to unanimously oppose it call it a “non-COVID waste,” and a “blue state bailout.” They say it’s riddled with pork.
So what, exactly is in the bill?
Here’s a list, by committeee, of what’s in the bill with the estimated cost of each item, based on infomation by the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Ways & Means, $923 million
- Payments of $1,400 to most individuals, along with the same amount for each dependent. Checks would start to phase out at $75,000 in income and go to zero for individuals making $100,000. Estimated cost: $422 billion
- A $400 per week unemployment supplement through Aug. 29, along with an extension of programs that would make millions more eligible for jobless benefits. Estimated cost: $246 billion
- Expand Child Tax Credit, Child Care Tax Credit, and Earned Income Tax Credit mostly for one year. The plan would raise the $2,000 Child Tax Credit to $3,000, set the credit at $3,600 for parents of children under age 6 and make parents of 17-year-olds eligible. It would also make the credit fully refundable, so low-income households would get the full benefit, no matter how little they earn, according to the Wall Street Journal. Estimated cost: $143 billion
- Provide grants to multi-employer pension plans and change single-employer pension funding rules. Estimated cost: $58 billion
- Temporarily expand Affordable Care Act subsidies for two years and subsidize 2020 and 2021 coverage. Estimated cost: $45 billion
- Extend paid sick leave and employee retention credit. Estimated cost: $14 billion
- Subsidize COBRA coverage for laid-off workers*. Estimated cost: $8 billion
- Repeal rule allowing multinational corporations to calculate their interest expenses including foreign subsidiaries. Estimated: minus-$22 billion
- Other policies. Estimated cost: $9 billion
*The total removes $14 billion from COBRA subsidies and funding for LIHEAP that are shared between two committees and would be double-counted if summing each committee’s total.
Oversight & Reform, $350 billion
- Provide money to state governments. Estimated cost: $195 billion
- Provide money to local governments, territories, and tribes. Estimated cost: $155 billion
- Create paid COVID leave for federal workers and other policies. Estimated cost: $0.4 billion
Assessment: One of the unrelated provisions that has critics complaining likely is included in here:
- $500 million for museums & Native American language preservation. Politifact notes that the bill “would appropriate $480 million for grants to fund activities related to the arts, humanities, libraries and museums, and Native American language preservation and maintenance,” according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office
Education & Labor, $290 billion
- Provide funding for K-12 education. Estimated cost: $129 billion
- Provide funding for colleges and universities. Estimated cost: $40 billion
- Increase the federal minimum wage to $15/hour by 2025. Estimated cost: **$54 billion (A ruling by the Senate parliamentarian jettisoned the proposed minimum wage hike to $15 an hour saying it could not be included under Senate rules, according to usatoday.com)
- Provide support for child care, grants to child care providers, and Head Start. Estimated cost: $40 billion
- Subsidize COBRA coverage for laid-off workers*. Estimated cost: $10 billion
- Extend nutrition assistance in place of school lunch for the duration of the emergency and other food assistance. Estimated cost: $7 billion
- Human services, labor programs, and other policies. Estimated cost: $11 billion
*The total removes $14 billion from COBRA subsidies and funding for LIHEAP that are shared between two committees and would be double-counted if summing each committee’s total.
Assessment: Another of those unrelated provisions is included in here:
- $50 million for “family planning” orgs like Planned Parenthood, according to an ad by Stand for America. A Poltifact story notes that the bill appropriates $50 million “for making grants and contracts under” the Public Health Service Act, which gives grants and contracts for family planning. No organization is specified, it said.
Energy & Commerce, $122 billion
Increase funding for testing and contract tracing. Estimated cost: $50 billion
Increase public health workforce and investments. Estimated cost: $19 billion
Fund vaccine distribution, confidence, and supply chains. Estimated cost: $16 billion
Increase Medicaid payments to states that newly expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Estimated cost: $16 billion
Allow states to expand Medicaid coverage for prisoners close to release and for pregnant and postpartum women for 5 years. Estimated cost: $9 billion
Remove the cap limiting how much drug manufacturers must rebate to Medicaid for drugs that have increased quickly in price. Estimated cost: minus-$18 billion
Other policies. Estimated cost: $31 billion
Transportation & Infrastructure, $90 billion
Increase funding for the Disaster Relief Fund and cover funeral expenses related to COVID. Estimated cost: $47 billion
Provide grants to transit agencies. Estimated cost: $28 billion
Provide grants to airports and aviation manufacturers. Estimated cost: $11 billion
Provide grants to communities under economic stress. Estimated cost: $3 billion
Grants to Amtrak and other transportation-related spending. Estimated cost: $2 billion
Assessment: It would appear the majority of those unrelated provisions are included in here:
- $1.5 billion for Amtrak, which still has $1 billion in unspent aid, according to that Stand for America ad. The bill would steer grants totaling $1.5 billion to the National Railroad Passenger Corp. (Amtrak) “to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus”: $820.4 million for the northeast corridor and $679.6 million for the national network. Politifact points out that it follows similar aid provided by the Trump administration.
- $1.5 million for a bridge connecting Canada to New York, according to the same ad. The bill would give $1.5 million to the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. “to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus by conducting the operations, maintenance and capital infrastructure activities of the Seaway International Bridge,” which connects New York State and Ontario. Politifact wrote that the Trump administration made the same request.
- More than $100 million for an underground rail project in Silicon Valley. The bill allots $1.25 billion for federal transit capital investment grants. It does not specify a project in the Silicon Valley, according to Politifact. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on Tuesday night announced that the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that an earmark in the House COVID-19 relief bill violated the Byrd Rule and could be removed from the bill. That earmark would provide the funding to expand an underground rail project in Silicon Valley, Toomey said. “Expanding Silicon Valley’s subway has nothing to do with COVID-19 relief and should not have been included in the House bill,” he added.
Financial Services, $71 billion
Provide emergency rental assistance and assist homeless. Estimated cost: $30 billion
Provide grants to airlines and contractors to freeze airline layoffs through September. Estimated cost: $12 billion
Use Defense Production Act to buy and distribute medical supplies. Estimated cost: $10 billion
Provide mortgage payment assistance. Estimated cost: $10 billion
Reauthorize and fund the State Small Business Credit Initiative. Estimated cost: $9 billion
Small Business, $50 billion
Provide grants to restaurants and bars that lost revenue due to the pandemic. Estimated cost: $25 billion
Provide additional EIDL Advance grants of up to $10,000 per business. Estimated cost: $15 billion
Allow more PPP loans and expand eligibility to certain non-profit and digital media companies. Estimated cost: $7 billion
Other policies. Estimated cost: $3 billion
Veterans’ Affairs, $17 billion
Provide funding for health care services, facilities, and copays for veterans. Estimated cost: $16 billion
Fund job training assistance programs for veterans and other VA administrative costs. Estimated cost: $1 billion
Agriculture, $16 billion
Increase nutrition assistance. Estimated cost: $6 billion
Pay off loans and other programs for socially disadvantaged farmers. Estimated cost: $5 billion
Purchase and distribute food to needy individuals. Estimated cost: $4 billion
Testing and monitoring for COVID in rural communities and among animal populations. Estimated cost: $1 billion
Foreign Affairs, (no legislation reported yet). Estimated cost: $10 billion
Science, Space, & Technology (no legislation reported yet). Estimated cost: $1 billion
Natural Resources (no legislation reported yet). Estimated cost: $1 billion
Assessment: The last provision that Stand for America criticized is this one.
$50 million for environmental justice grants. Per Politifact, the bill appropriates to the Environmental Protection Agency $50 million for “grants, contracts and other agency activities that implement the environmental justice purposes and objectives” described in “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations,” an executive order signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994; and President Joe Biden’s “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” executive order.
About The Author
Paul Vigna is the enterprise manager for PennLive and The Patriot-News and cover mid-Atlantic wines and wineries on a blog called The Wine Classroom.
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