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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Last night Congress wrapped up work for the year by passing a massive year-end spending package that will fund the government through FY 2021, provide $900 billion in additional COVID relief and advance several other programs ranging from water and energy projects to pipeline and airline safety to national intelligence matters. The package was passed with overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate (House vote: 359-53 and 327-85; Senate vote: 92-6). Among a host of other things, the package contains the following:
- $900 billion COVID relief package;
- $1.4 trillion omnibus spending package containing all 12 of the annual appropriations bills that provide federal government spending for the next year;
- Legislation authorizing water projects around the country;
- Energy legislation and energy tax credits
The final legislation is nearly 5,600 pages and is expected to be signed quickly by President Trump.
To view the whole package, you can go here: HR 133 Bill Text
COVID Relief Package
For the COVID package, here are the top highlights:
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Unemployment insurance – Additional $300 per week through March 14, 2021 and continues the extension of coverage to gig workers and self-employed.
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Direct payments - $600 for individuals making up to $75k and $1200 for couples making up to $150k, $600 for each child dependent.
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PPP loans – additional $284 billion for first and second forgivable PPP loans and expands eligibility to 501(c)(6) organizations
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EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan) grants for businesses in low-income communities -- $20 billion
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Direct Support - Live venues, independent movie theaters and cultural institutions - $15 billion.
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Coronavirus Relief Fund - availability is extended through Dec 31, 2021.
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Transportation – Includes $15 billion to airlines for payroll reimbursement, $1 billion for airline contractor payrolls, $2 billion for airports and airport concessionaires, $10 billion for state highways, $14 billion for transit, $2 billion for the private motor coach, school bus, and ferry industries, $1 billion for Amtrak.
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Vaccine/COVID - $69 billion, including $22 billion directly to states for testing, tracing and mitigation programs.
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Mental health funding - $4.5 billion
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Public health care providers - $9 billion
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Education - $82 billion for education support, which includes a $4.05 billion Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund, $54.3 billion for an Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund and $22.7 billion for higher education.
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Rental assistance – $25 billion federal rental assistance program to be distributed by state and local governments and extends the existing CDC eviction moratorium through Jan 31, 2021.
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Nutrition Assistance - $13 billion additional to SNAP
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Child care - $10 billion to child care sector through the CDBG program and $250 million for Head Start providers.
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Broadband - $3.2 billion for low-income families, $250 million for telehealth and $65 million to complete the broadband maps. New $300 million grant program to fund broadband in rural areas.
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Employee Retention Tax Credit - extended refundable payroll tax credits for paid sick and family leave through March 31, 2021.
For a section by section summary of the entire COVID package, you can go here: HR 133 COVID package section by section.
FY 2021 Funding
For the FY 2021 spending package below are the topline discretionary funding totals, according to a House Democratic summary:
- Agriculture-FDA: $23.395 billion, about $217 million above fiscal 2020;
- Commerce-Justice-Science: $71.1 billion, about $2 billion below fiscal 2020;
- Defense: $696 billion, including $68.7 billion in cap-exempt Overseas Contingency Operations funds; the total is $2.6 billion higher than in fiscal 2020;
- Energy and Water: $49.5 billion, a $1.1 billion decrease below fiscal 2020;
- Financial Services: $24.4 billion, a $281 million increase;
- Homeland Security: $51.88 billion, $1.4 billion below fiscal 2020; that figure doesn’t include $17.1 billion in emergency disaster funds;
- Interior-Environment: $36.107 billion, an increase of $118 million;
- Labor-HHS-Education: $197 billion in programmatic funding, a $2.8 billion increase;
- Legislative Branch: $5.3 billion, a $251 million increase;
- Military Construction-VA: $113.1 billion, an $8.9 billion increase;
- State and Foreign Operations: $55.5 billion, including $8 billion in OCO funds, an $820 million increase; and
- Transportation-HUD: $75.4 billion, a $1.1 billion increase.
For a section by section summary of the FY 2021 spending package, you can go here: HR 133 FY 2021 section by section.
As always, I would like to hear from you. You can call me at 206-477-1004 or you can reach me by email at jeanne.kohl-welles@kingcounty.gov.
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