Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines, December 21 2020

In Washington:

• After months of not reaching an agreement on a coronavirus stimulus package, congressional leaders announced Sunday evening they have agreed to a roughly $900 billion COVID-19 relief package. The aid is being attached to a $1.4 trillion FY2021 appropriations omnibus bill and also includes additional sought-after provisions on tax extenders, surprise billing, and $45 billion in transportation-related provisions. The bill is significantly less than the $2 trillion + economic recovery bill passed in the House and being negotiated by Democrats but does push past the $500 billion bill that most Republicans preferred. Democrats hope to pass additional stimulus and pandemic aid in the 117th Congress.   

Monday afternoon, appropriators released their combined draft fiscal 2021 omnibus appropriations and COVID-19 aid bill. The House has begun debating the rule and then will debate and vote on the bill at approximately 8-8:30 p.m. The Senate is also planning on passing the bill late tonight, around 10-10:30 p.m. Given the bill’s massive size, Congress will also have to pass a seven-day stopgap bill to keep the government open for another week while they complete the administrative and paperwork.

Below is a summary of the bill’s provisions. To see the text of the package, click here.

To see a section-by-section summary of the appropriations provisions, click here.

To see a section-by-section summary of the coronavirus provisions, click here.

To see a section-by-section summary of the authorizing provisions, click here.

• $166 billion for a second round of stimulus checks set at $600 per individual who qualified for the $1,200 checks the first time. $600 will be available per child for a family. The income phaseout will be similar to the first round from $75,000 to $99,000 for individuals.
• $120 for unemployment insurance. There will be $300 in weekly enhanced UI benefits for 11 weeks. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), which extends unemployment benefits for up to 13 weeks, will also both be extended 11 weeks after it was set to expire December 26th.
• $15 billion for airline Payroll Support Program (PSP) through March.
• $325 billion in additional small business support including $284 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Some businesses are eligible for a second round of the PPP and there are provisions to aid independent restaurants specifically. $15 billion for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions. There also is $20 billion for targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Grants. There is also a technical fix to the CARES Act that explicitly states that businesses can deduct expenses that were paid for by PPP funds, something that the Treasury and IRS previously prohibited.
• Business meal tax deduction-100 percent tax deduction of business meals for two years.
• COVID-19 tax provisions
  • Extension and expansion of the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC)
  • Extension of a payroll tax subsidy for employers offering workers paid sick leave,
  • Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) will be based on 2019 income. 
• $20 billion in additional aid for healthcare providers.
• $28 billion for vaccine procurement and distribution and $20 billion for Covid-19 testing.
• $10 billion of grants for child care providers.
• $13 billion of direct support for farmers.
• $13 billion in increased SNAP and child nutrition benefits.
• $82 billion to help schools and colleges respond to the pandemic.
• $25 billion in emergency rental assistance and the extension of the federal eviction moratorium through January.
• $7 billion in broadband funding.
• Transportation Provisions
  • $15 billion to extend payroll support for passenger airlines
  • $14 billion for transit; $10 billion for state highways
  • $2 billion for private motor coaches, buses and ferries
  • $2 billion for airports and airport concessionaires
  • $1 billion for airline contractor payroll support
  • $1 billion for Amtrak.
• State and local governments will get a full-year extension to spend unused aid from the CARES Act, a deadline that was originally set for the end of the month.
• The Federal Reserve emergency lending facilities for mid-sized businesses and state and local governments from the CARES Act will not get further funding without Congressional approval and the unspent funds will be returned to the Treasury. 

• Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Monday that Americans who qualify for direct payments in new coronavirus relief legislation could see that money hit their bank accounts in a matter of days. 

• On Monday, Operation Warp Speed’s chief scientific advisor Moncef Slaoui told reporters that they are considering trials to test if a lower dose of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine will be effective as the two microgram shots given three weeks apart. If a smaller dose proves effective, the current supply of Moderna vaccine could treat more people and ease some of the existing supply shortages. Slaoui added that he expects Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 shots will be effective against a new mutation of the virus found in the U.K.

• President-elect Joe Biden received the coronavirus vaccine on live television Monday afternoon. Biden gave credit to the Trump administration for its work on Operation Warp Speed, which quickly delivered a vaccine. Biden warned Americans still need to remain vigilant, wear masks, and social distance in the coming months.

• U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, have been subpoenaed by a House panel investigating the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, said the panel issued the subpoenas Monday, ordering the two officials to produce documents by December 30 that Clyburn said show political interference in the pandemic response. The subcommittee also released new emails that purportedly show political appointees at HHS attempting to alter the CDC’s prestigious CNBC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports. 

In the News:

• World Health Organization officials said Monday that the coronavirus is mutating “at a much slower rate” than seasonal influenza, even as officials in the U.K. announced this weekend that a new mutation of the virus is allowing it to spread more easily. Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said it was unclear if the increase in the spread in the U.K. is due to the mutation or human behavior. U.K. officials have told the WHO that the Covid-19 vaccines appear to be just as effective against the new strain, but more research is needed. 

• A growing number of countries are banning travelers from the U.K. to preemptively block the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus. France announced it was suspending all travel from that county for 48 hours beginning Sunday at midnight. The new restrictions on U.K. travel have crippled freight transport across the English Channel. Countries in Europe including Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, announced bans on travelers from the U.K. Canada also announced it was suspending flights from the U.K. for a 72-hour period, while Israel announced the entry of non-Israeli citizens from the U.K. has been prohibited “including those who have already been issued permits.”

• The number of shoppers who turned up at stores on the final Saturday before Christmas — known as “Super Saturday” in the retail industry — fell from a year ago. RetailNext, which provides cameras, software and analytics to retailers, said the number of shoppers fell 40.9% compared with the last Saturday before Christmas in 2019. By comparison, traffic was down 48% on Black Friday this year from a year ago, RetailNext said.

Authored by Ivan Zapien