Senate Republicans Plan New COVID-19 Proposal
This week, Senate Republicans released a new, scaled down Covid-19 relief package. The draft proposal would provide $300 a week in supplemental unemployment insurance payments for the rest of the year, down from the $600 weekly payment that expired at the end of July. The reduced amount matches the federal benefit under a memorandum that President Donald Trump issued on August 8, which stated the federal benefit would be funded by FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and would require a 25 percent matching contribution from states. Many states already have opted not to participate due to budgetary constraints.
The new draft plan did not include the $1,200 stimulus payments to individuals earning $75,000 or less a year that were included in an earlier Republican proposal known as the HEALS Act. The new plan also omits the assistance to state and local governments that Democrats have sought during negotiations, such as the $1 trillion proposed for state and local assistance that was included in the Heroes Act. The draft does, however, include liability protections for businesses and health care providers, a top priority for Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
The Paycheck Protection Program would also be extended and would permit a second draw for eligible firms that have suffered a 35 percent revenue loss over the same period a year ago. In July, Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a draft bill, the Continuing Small Business Recovery and Paycheck Protection Program Act, which required a 50 percent revenue decline.
The revised Republican bill removed a plan to set aside nearly $58 billion in loan funds for a new program set up to aid seasonal businesses and firms in low-income areas, as well as $10 billion in assistance to firms that invest in small businesses. Instead, the entire $257.7 billion amount, offset by a $100 billion rescission of unused funds from the first round, would be used for the existing Paycheck Protection Program. The proposal would also convert into a grant the $10 billion loan authorization previously provided to the Postal Service under the CARES Act.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stated she will summon the House back in session this Saturday to debate a $25 billion Postal Service funding bill the House is expected to consider in response to the recent Republican proposal. Speaker Pelosi said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) would formally announce the new House schedule on Monday, while the Senate is still technically in recess. Stimulus talks between Congressional leadership and the Trump administration have been stalled since August 7, after Democrats offered to cut down their $3.5 trillion demand by $1 trillion and the White House declined to accept more than the $1 trillion it had put on the table. The longer Congress goes without coming to agreement on additional COVID-19 aid, the greater the probability that a broader COVID-19 relief package will be attached to a must-pass government spending bill needed to keep the federal government operating after September 30.