Some Highlights of the COVID Relief Bill

Some Quickie Highlights of the COVID Relief Bill

 

The bill does a great deal for those low, moderate and middle-income individuals and family members who have been so badly hurt by the COVID recession. It has passed the Senate, goes back to the House, then to President Biden for his signature. It has 70% support by the American people. We are on a good track.

By comparison it took the House, Senate and President nine months to agree on the last relief package in December 2020, during which time many of the protections for the unemployed had lapsed, and many individuals and families were in desperate shape. Last December’s provisions for the unemployed are scheduled to expire again in the middle of March, absent this legislation. All Republicans voted against the Biden measure, while they had mostly voted with Trump in support of the earlier relief packages. There are legitimate reasons to discuss and compromise, but delays are inexcusable when the nation is facing dire health and economic crises, and we urgently need to bring our kids back to school and restart in person learning again.

 

·      $1400 stimulus checks for those with incomes less than $75,000 for an individual and $150,000 for couples, phased down and out by $80,000 and $160,000 respectively. Includes checks for children and adult dependents like college students and disabled adults

·      Unemployment insurance for gig workers and the self-employed extended

·      Unemployment insurance supplements of $300 a week extended ‘til 9/6/21

·      Extra weeks of unemployment insurance extended

·      First $10,200 of UI is non-taxable at federal level.

·      Tax credits (refundable and payable monthly) of $3600 per child under age 6 and $3,000 per older child

·      Expands the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as follows: enhance the earned income tax credit for workers without children by nearly tripling the maximum credit and extending eligibility to more people. The minimum age to qualify is reduced from 25 to 19, and the upper age limit eliminated.

·      Increases the child care tax credit to 50% of child care costs

·      Extends eligibility for Obamacare premium assistance to persons with incomes over 400% of FPL and assures no one pays more than 8.5% of income

·      Eliminates premium assistance responsibilities (zero pay) for those with incomes between 133 and 150% of FPL

     Eliminates Exchange premiums for those collecting unemployment benefits in 2021.

·      Senate version pays the full amount of the COBRA premium for the unemployed; the House version would have covered 85% of the premium.

·      I think it that is links premium assistance to gold (80% coverage) as opposed to silver (70% coverage) plans (which increases coverage and improves affordability).

  • Increases the federal Medicaid match by 5% to give the 12 states additional incentives to expand their Medicaid programs to cover the working poor.

·      $170 billion for school reopening; 20% must be spent on mitigating school learning loss during the pandemic

·      $46 billion for Covid vaccines, testing and tracing

·      $350 billion for state and local governments (60/40 split between state and local governments)

·      $25 billion for rental and mortgage assistance to distressed homeowners and renters

·      $25 billion for restaurants in financial distress

·      $4.5 billion for utility assistance to families and individuals in financial distress

·      $7.6 billion for internet connectivity for students and teachers

·      No increase in federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. That will be addressed in a separate bill requiring 60 votes in the Senate.

·      15% increase in food stamp benefits through September

·      $880 million for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)

·      $15 billion to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. Severely impacted small businesses with fewer than 10 workers will be given priority.

·       Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses would receive an additional $7 billion and more non-profit organizations would be eligible.

 

Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin

Dated: 3/6/21

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