Everything You Need to Know About the New $900 Billion Stimulus Package
Photo by Caleb Fisher on Unsplash
Late Sunday night, lawmakers in DC agreed upon a new round of stimulus funding to confront the ongoing economic recession caused by COVID-19. The purpose of the bill is to provide relief to small businesses, unemployed Americans, and health care workers while bolstering vaccine distribution. This bill is not yet finalized; it still needs to be voted on in the House and Senate and then signed by President Trump. Those events are expected to occur by the end of today.
The new stimulus bill contains the following measures as reported by CNN Politics:
$600 direct payments per eligible adult (on a sliding scale, see more below) and a $600 flat allowance per child dependent
Single tax filer: AGI under $75,000 (full amount) to under $99,000 (sliding scale). You won't qualify at $99,000 or above.
Head of a household: AGI under $112,500 limit (full amount) to under $146,500 (sliding scale). You will not qualify at $146,500 or above.
Married, filing jointly: AGI under $150,000 (full amount) to under $198,000 combined (sliding scale). You will not qualify at $198,000 or above.
Aid for struggling small businesses, including more than $284 billion for forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans and $15 billion "in dedicated funding for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions"
$300 per week for enhanced unemployment insurance benefits, which will run for 10 weeks
$82 billion for education providers like schools and colleges, including aid to help reopen classrooms safely
$30 billion to support coronavirus vaccine distribution, testing and contract tracing efforts, and health care workers
$25 billion for direct rental assistance and an eviction moratorium extension
$13 billion in increased Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and child nutrition benefits
$10 billion to help with child care assistance
$7 billion to bolster broadband access to help Americans connect remotely during the pandemic
A tax credit that supports employers offering paid sick leave
A ban on “surprise medical bills” that occur when patients unexpectedly receive care from an out-of-network health provider. Instead of sending those charges to patients, hospitals and doctors will now need to work with health insurers to settle the bills.
The new stimulus will end special Federal Reserve lending programs created under the Cares Act by the end of this calendar year and re-direct the $428m that remains from the Federal Reserve program back into the current $900m bill.
The stimulus comes attached to a $1.4 trillion spending bill
The bill is intended to fund federal agencies and programs to keep the government functioning through Sept. 30 2021, the end of the fiscal year. This is the first comprehensive relief package since March when the largest stimulus package in U.S. history, the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, was passed. As of now, there have been over 17.9 Million cases of COVID-19 in the United States and over 318,000 deaths as reported by the CDC.
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