Thread by @SeanCasten

Early this morning, we passed the #AmericanRescuePlan.

It's critically needed and the Senate must act now to get these resources into our economy to help struggling families and businesses, accelerate vaccine roll-out and safely reopen our schools.

A few important things:

1/ The single biggest line item in the bill is for direct, $1400 checks to people earning $75,000 or less ($150,000 for couples). $1400 per earner and each of their dependents.

2/ (If you earn more than these levels the amount of the payment scales down to zero at $100K/$200K), to ensure this is targeted to the neediest.)

3/ The second biggest line item in the bill is $350B in aid to states and municipalities. This is critically important to make sure our teachers, sanitation workers, firefighters and so many more are able to do their jobs. And yes, to fund the police.

4/ Worth noting on this point that we have passed multiple rounds of PPP. That is thought of as a small business support bill (which it is) but structurally requires that those funds be used to keep people employed. It is worker aid, through their employers.

5/ At various times over the past year, we have expanded PPP to reach smaller businesses and non-profits. But people who happen to be employed by state and local governments couldn't access those program funds.

6/ This has led to over 1.5M public sector job losses, and many economists have noted that this is one of the largest drags on forward economic growth. Bottom line: think of state and local aid as PPP for workers we didn't reach through the prior programs.

7/ The next biggest line item is >$300B in extensions of the $400/week unemployment insurance benefits that are set to expire on March 14. It is critical that the Senate pass this bill before those programs run out.

8/ This is critical for people who otherwise won't be able to pay rent, buy groceries or otherwise get by. And keep in mind that the true unemployment rate is closer to 10% than the headline rate bc of all the people who have dropped out of the workforce during COVID.

9/ The next biggest item is specific to the public health needs of COVID. ~$150B+ to nationalize vaccine rollout, ensure we have consistent resources for testing, PPE. Fund the long-overdue nationally-coordinated response so our states can stop competing with each other.

10/ (Note: I may be slightly off in total $ to these program sizes. It was a late night last night and trying to pull together various tables. I reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks!)

11/ Next biggest (~ same total size as prior, I think) is to provide funding for safe school reopening. Get kids back as quick as possible, but make sure we have necessary increases in nurses, PPE, additional teachers to ensure more safely spaced classrooms. HVAC upgrades, etc.

12/ Brief political aside: everyone wants schools open. But demanding reopening without safety is like demanding people have water without sewage treatment. Don't create dumb political conflicts, and don't give platforms to those who do.

13/ Next biggest item is ~$140B of childcare related supports. The bulk of that an expansion of the childcare tax credit and making it fully refundable, even for those with no taxable income. Also $ specifically for childcare providers.

14/ Another really important point. We knew from the start that childcare was going to be the first part of our economy to shutdown and the last to recover. We don't pay childcare providers much to begin with, packing kids with runny noses in small rooms has risks, and...

15/ ...the labor force is overwhelmingly women who bear the burden of childcare in their own homes as well. So as schools went remote, all the incentives were wrong. This is a bigger issue than COVID, but was magnified by COVID.

16/ Finally, among the major categories is ~$50B in various housing programs, primarily around rental supports, eviction moratoriums, liquidity protections to landlords. #HousingFirst, because otherwise we pay way more for homelessness and other more expensive welfare programs.

17/ There is more, but those are the major categories, and comprise - if I'm doing my math right - roughly ~85% of the total package we approved last night.

18/ To be sure, those smaller items are also important (for example, $ for international supports since global pandemics don't stop at our borders). But they are smaller than those big muscle movements.

19/ Think of those smaller items as the salt on your grocery list. Necessary to make the whole thing work, even though it's not one of the 5 major food groups.

20/ Hope that's helpful. And apologies if I've got some slight math errors this morning. Now to go get another cup of coffee to help me shuffle through the rest of this day after too little sleep last night... /fin