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Stimulation controls
The House bill would allow direct payments of up to $ 1,400 per person. A family of four could receive up to $ 5,600.
People earning less than $ 75,000 per year and married couples earning less than $ 150,000 would receive the full amount.
The payment will be calculated based on income for 2019 or 2020. Unlike the previous two rounds, dependent adults would be entitled to the payments.
Unemployment assistance
The House bill would extend two key pandemic unemployment programs until August 29. It would also increase the weekly federal boost to $ 400, from the current $ 300, and continue it for the same period.
It would extend the duration of the unemployment pandemic assistance program to 74 weeks, from 50 weeks, and the emergency pandemic compensation program to 48 weeks, by 24 weeks.
The former offers benefits to freelancers, on-demand workers, freelance contractors and some people affected by the pandemic, while the latter increases the length of payments for those in the state’s traditional unemployment system.
The president’s plan had demanded continue the benefits until the end of September.
The $ 300 bonus also ends in mid-March.
Nutritional assistance
The House plan would extend the 15% increase in food stamp benefits until September, instead of expiring it at the end of June.
It also contains $ 880 million for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, to help increase participation and temporarily improve benefits, among other measures. Biden called for investing $ 3 billion in the program.
Housing assistance
The legislation would send about $ 19.1 billion to states and local governments to help low-income households cover rent, rent assistance, and utility bills.
About $ 10 billion would be allowed to help struggling homeowners pay off their mortgages, utilities and property taxes.
It would provide an additional $ 5 billion to help states and communities help those at risk of becoming homeless.
Tax credits for families and workers
The law strengthens tax credits for families and some low-income workers for 2021.
The credit would also become fully refundable, so that more low-income parents could take advantage. In addition, families could receive monthly payments rather than a lump sum once a year, making it easier for them to pay the bills.
The bill also improves the earned income tax credit for childless workers by nearly tripling the maximum credit and extending eligibility to more people. The minimum age for applying for childless credit would be reduced to 19, from 25, and the upper age limit would be removed.
This would be the biggest expansion of the earned income tax credit since 2009.
Optional paid sick and family leave
Unlike Biden’s proposal, the House bill would not reinstate the mandatory paid family and sick leave approved in a previous Covid relief program. But it continues to give tax credits to employers who voluntarily choose to offer the benefit until October 1.
Last year, Congress guaranteed many workers two weeks’ pay if they contracted Covid or were in quarantine. It also granted an additional 10 weeks of paid family leave to those staying at home with children whose schools were closed. These benefits expired in December.
Education and childcare
The bill would provide nearly $ 130 billion to K-12 schools to help students return to class. Schools would be allowed to use the money to update their ventilation systems, reduce class sizes to help implement social distancing, purchase personal protective equipment, and hire support staff. Schools should use at least 20% of the money to address learning loss by offering extended days or summer courses, for example.
The money is also intended to help prevent teacher layoffs next year when some states may struggle to balance their budgets. The pot of money will remain available until September 2023.
The Democratic bill is consistent with what Biden proposed, but calls for more than six times more funding for K-12 schools than a compromise plan proposed by a small group of Republican senators.
The House bill now includes almost $ 40 billion for colleges. Institutions would be required to spend at least half of the money to provide emergency financial aid grants to students.
In total, $ 170 billion would be authorized for K-12 schools and higher education. Last year, Congress approved a total of $ 112 billion between two relief programs that went to K-12 schools and colleges.
The bill would also provide $ 39 billion to child care providers. The amount a supplier receives would be based on operating expenses and is available to pay employees and rent, help families struggling to afford the cost, and purchase personal protective equipment and others. supplies.
Health Insurance and Medicaid Grants
Registrants would pay no more than 8.5% of their income for coverage, compared to almost 10% currently. Additionally, those earning more than the current 400% federal poverty line – about $ 51,000 for one person and $ 104,800 for a family of four in 2021 – would become eligible for assistance.
In addition, the legislation would strengthen subsidies for low-income registrants, eliminating their bonuses entirely, and the same for those receiving unemployment benefits in 2021.
The bill would also provide assistance to those who wish to stay on their employer’s health insurance plans through COBRA. These laid-off workers would only pay 15% of the premium until the end of September, although that could still prove costly.
Additionally, the legislation seeks to encourage states that have not yet extended Medicaid to low-income adults to do so by increasing their federal Medicaid matching funds by 5 percentage points for two years.
More money for small businesses
The bill would provide $ 15 billion to the Disaster Emergency Loan Program, which provides long-term, low-interest loans to the Small Business Administration. Severely affected small businesses with fewer than 10 workers will be given priority for some of the money.
It also provides $ 25 billion for a new subsidy program specifically aimed at bars and restaurants. Qualifying businesses can receive up to $ 10 million and can use that money for a variety of expenses, including payroll, mortgage and rent, utilities, and food and drink.
The Paycheck Protection Program, which is currently accepting second-round loan applications, would get an additional $ 7 billion and the bill would make more nonprofits eligible.
Another $ 175 million would be used for awareness and promotion, creating a community browser program to help target eligible businesses.
Aid to States
The House act would provide $ 350 billion to state and local governments, as well as tribes and territories.
States and the District of Columbia would receive $ 195.3 billion, while local governments would receive $ 130.2 billion to be split evenly among cities and counties. Tribes would receive $ 20 billion and territories $ 4.5 billion.
The additional aid to states has been one of the most controversial elements of Congressional bailouts, with Democrats seeking to add to the $ 150 billion in March legislation and Republicans resisting such efforts. The December package ultimately dropped an initial appeal to include $ 160 billion.
Vaccines and tests
The House bill provides $ 14 billion for research, development, distribution, administration and confidence building in vaccines. It would also spend $ 46 billion on testing, contact tracing and mitigation, including investment in lab capacity, community testing sites and mobile testing units, especially in medically-based areas. underserved.
It would also allocate $ 7.6 billion to hire 100,000 public health workers to support the coronavirus response.
The president’s plan called for investing $ 20 billion in a national immunization program.
Minimum wage
The law would increase the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour by 2025 in stages. It would also ensure that knowledgeable workers, youth workers and workers with disabilities receive the full federal minimum wage.
The plan would increase the wages of 27 million workers, according to the Budget Committee.
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