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What’s in latest stimulus bill? We break down the details,

The House is set to vote today on a large spending package proposed by President Joe Biden and aimed at helping battle the pandemic and alleviate the economic toll it has taken. The $1.9 trillion stimulus plan offers a wish list of spending measures meant to help people and the economy recover. Here are some details:

Stimulus checks

The latest round of direct payments would limit the full $1,400 relief payments to individuals making $75,000 or less, and phasing them out until they end completely at $100,000. Couples who make $150,000 or less would be entitled to $2,800 relief payments, which would gradually diminish and fully disappear for those earning $200,000.

Unemployment benefits

Expanded unemployment benefits from the federal government would be extended, with an increase from $300 a week to $400 a week. That’s on top of what beneficiaries are getting through their state unemployment insurance program.

Minimum wage

After holding steady at $7.25 for more than a decade, the federal minimum wage would rise gradually to $15 per hour under the House proposal. Research from the Congressional Budget Office in 2019 suggested that raising the wage to $15 nationally could increase pay for tens of millions of workers, though potentially at some cost to jobs — perhaps 1.3 million people who would otherwise work would not work, in part because employers would reduce payroll.

Public health

Included in the bill is $7.5 billion in funding for the CDC to track, administer and distribute COVID-19 vaccines and $1 billion to educate the public on the vaccine. Forty-six billion dollars will go toward diagnosing and tracing COVID-19 infections. Nearly $2 billion would go toward buying and distributing various testing supplies and PPE.

Families

Under current law, most taxpayers can reduce their federal income tax bill by up to $2,000 per child. The package moving through the House would increase the tax break to $3,000 for every child age 6 to 17 and $3,600 for every child under the age of 6. The legislation also calls for the payments to be delivered monthly instead of in one lump sum.

Businesses

The bill also provides another $7.25 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, a tiny fraction of what was allocated in previous legislation. The loans are designed to help borrowers meet their payroll and operating costs and can potentially be forgiven.

Schools

The plan contains nearly $170 billion for schools, supplemented by additional state and local funds. About $130 billion of that would go toward reopening, while much of the rest of the money would go to help colleges dealing with the shift to distance learning and other pandemic-tied problems.

State and local aid

The plan would provide $350 billion in emergency funding for state, local and territorial governments.