I’ve heard so many claims of "Democratic obstruction" since McConnell introduced a woefully inadequate & hyperpartisan bill on Sunday.
Want to know what we were fighting for? The following items were added since Sunday as Democrats negotiated this now bipartisan bill. (THREAD)
Want to know what we were fighting for? The following items were added since Sunday as Democrats negotiated this now bipartisan bill. (THREAD)
The bill now includes 4 months instead of 3 months of improved benefits and more widely-available unemployment insurance to help workers who lose their jobs in this economic downturn. Three days of negotiation = an additional month of benefits for those out of work.
We secured a $55 billion increase in funding for our health care system (totaling >$150bn). Schumer is calling this a Marshall Plan for Hospitals & he's not overstating the case. This money is going to help keep our hospitals afloat and equipped to save lives during this crisis.
The bill now includes $150 billion for a state, tribal, and local Coronavirus Relief fund, $30 billion in emergency education funding, and $25 billion in emergency transit funding.
It now has $10bn for SBA emergency grants of up to $10,000 for immediate relief for small business operating costs & $17bn for SBA to cover 6 months of payments for small businesses with existing SBA loans. Rent, mortgage & utility costs are now eligible for SBA loan forgiveness.
It now has $30bn for the Disaster Relief Fund to provide financial assistance to state, local, tribal & territorial governments, as well as private nonprofits providing critical & essential services, & more than $10 billion for the Indian Health Services & other tribal programs.
The bill now adds a retention tax credit for employers to encourage businesses to keep workers on payroll during the crisis & provides an income tax exclusion for people who are receiving student loan repayment assistance from their employer.
The bill now takes steps to stop abuse of taxpayer dollars by prohibiting businesses controlled by the President, VP, Members of Congress, and heads of executive departments from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs.
It now bans stock buybacks for the term of the government assistance plus one year on any company receiving a government loan from the bill, and establishes meaningful worker protections attached to all federal loans for businesses.
The bill now includes real-time public reporting of Treasury transactions under the Act & creates a Treasury Dept Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery to provide oversight of Treasury loans & a Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to protect taxpayer dollars.
Democrats successfully eliminated a $3 billion bailout for big oil and a “secret bailout” provision that would have allowed bailouts to corporations to be concealed for 6 months.
This bill is a product of urgent compromise & remains far from perfect. It both omits and includes things it shouldn't, but it’s desperately needed right now to save lives, protect workers, and mitigate damage to our economy.
Much more work to do as we work to protect people from COVID-19 and its economic fallout, but first responders, health care professionals, American workers, those out of jobs or soon to be: help is on the way.
