Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Lawmakers approve $900B relief package
WASHINGTON — Congress on Monday night passed a $900 billion covid-19 relief package to deliver longsought cash to businesses and individuals and provide resources to vaccinate a nation grappling with the economic and health toll of the pandemic.
Lawmakers tacked on a $1.4 trillion catchall spending bill and thousands of pages of other end-of-session business in a bundle of bipartisan legislation as Capitol Hill prepared to close the books on the year.
The relief package, unveiled Monday afternoon, sped through the House and Senate in a matter of hours. The Senate cleared the package by a 91-7 vote after the House approved it in a 359-53 vote. The bill goes to President Donald Trump for his signature, which is expected in the coming days.
The relief package, agreed to on Sunday and finally released in bill form Monday, establishes a temporary $300-per-week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses and restaurants and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction.
The 5,593-page legislation — the longest bill in congressional history by far — came together Sunday after months of battling, posturing and post-election negotiating that
reined in a number of Democratic demands as the end of the congressional session approached. President-elect Joe Biden has been eager for a deal to deliver long-awaited help to suffering people and a boost to the economy, even though it was less than half the size that Democrats wanted in the fall.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a key negotiator, said Monday morning on CNBC that the direct payments would begin arriving in bank accounts next week.
Democrats acknowledged it wasn’t as robust a relief package as they initially sought — or, they say, the country needs.
“This deal is not everything I want — not by a long shot,” said Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D- Mass., a long- standing voice in the party’s liberal wing. “The choice before us is simple. It’s about whether we help families or not. It’s about whether we help small businesses and restaurants or not. It’s about whether we boost [food stamp] benefits and strengthen anti-hunger programs or not. And whether we help those dealing with a job loss or not. To me, this is not a tough call.”
Democrats promised more aid once Biden takes office, but Republicans were signaling a wait-and-see approach.
The final agreement would add to a national debt that has spiked by $ 7 trillion, to $27.5 trillion, during Trump’s term.
The measure funds the government through September, wrapping a year’s worth of action on annual spending bills into a single package that never saw Senate committee or floor debate.
The legislation followed a tortured path. Democrats played hardball up until Election Day, despite facing accusations that they wanted to deny Trump an accomplishment that might help him prevail in the campaign. Democrats denied that, but they did pare their demands after Trump’s loss and as Biden made it clear that half a loaf was better than none.
FINAL BILL
The final bill bore ample resemblance to a $1 trillion package put together by Senate Republican leaders in July, a proposal that at the time was scoffed at by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as way too little.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., touted the breakthrough after blocking far more expansive legislation from reaching the Senate floor. He said the pragmatic approach of Biden was key.
“A few days ago, with a new president- elect of their own party, everything changed. Democrats suddenly came around to our position that we should find consensus, make law where we agree and get urgent help out the door,” McConnell said.
On direct payments, the bill provides $ 600 to individuals making up to $75,000 per year and $1,200 to couples making up to $150,000, with payments phased out for higher incomes. An additional $600 payment will be made per dependent child, similar to the previous round of relief payments in the spring.
The $300-per-week bonus jobless benefit was half the supplemental federal unemployment benefit provided under the $1.8 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act in March, and would be limited to 11 weeks instead of a previously proposed 16 weeks. The direct $600 stimulus payment was also half the March payment.
The CARES Act was credited with keeping the economy from falling off a cliff during widespread lockdowns in the spring, but Republicans controlling the Senate cited debt concerns in pushing against Democratic demands for further relief.
“Anyone who thinks this bill is enough hasn’t heard the desperation in the voices of their constituents, has not looked into the eyes of the small-business owner on the brink of ruin,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Progress came after a bipartisan group of pragmatists and moderates devised a $908 billion plan that built a middle-ground position that the top four leaders of Congress — the GOP and Democratic leaders of both the House and Senate — used as the basis for their talks. The lawmakers urged leaders on both sides to back off of hardline positions.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said delivering the virus relief means there’s still a “pilot light of hope of bipartisanship that we can build on to get things done.”
“At times we felt like we were in the wilderness because people on all sides of the aisle didn’t want to give, in order to give the other side a win,” Slotkin said. “And it was gross to watch, frankly.”
ARKANSANS’ SUPPORT
U. S. Reps. French Hill, Steven Womack and Bruce Westerman commended the bipartisan effort to pass the omnibus legislation, but they criticized the monthslong delays in providing the latest round of much-needed aid.
“This long-awaited package is the result of a substantial bipartisan effort by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to provide the people of Arkansas with much- needed relief,” Hill said in a statement after the bill cleared the House.
“While Speaker Pelosi could have accepted a very similar bill from House and Senate Republicans in July, passing this relief package shows a bipartisan desire to support American families and small businesses and give them assurances and confidence before the end of the year.”
Womack said: “Tonight, the House finally completed its appropriations duty and delivered enhanced resources to combat the coronavirus. This package secures wins for Arkansas and the nation by investing in vaccine distribution, assisting families and small businesses, supporting rural hospitals, and boosting our military readiness.
“However, Congress deserves no praise. The bill before us should have been voted on months ago. I realize — as do the American people — that this is not the ideal way to go about funding the government and providing pandemic relief. No one in this chamber disputes that fact. I’ve called for changes to our budget and appropriations process that could very well add efficiency and dignity to Congress. Our constituents deserve better than the constant cycle of political games, partisan obstruction, and missed deadlines.”
Westerman said in a statement that “It’s been a long negotiating process, but I believe we’ve got a winning end product.”
He added: “In addition to the overdue and much-needed COVID-19 relief, the appropriations bills fund our military and the border wall, reinstate the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), don’t remove any prolife protections, and much more while still coming in under the budget caps we’d set, something that hasn’t happened in several years. It’s an imperfect process — these bills should’ve been passed months ago — but it’s the best we’ve got under the current situation. I voted for them and hope to see them signed into law soon.”
MEASURE’S PROVISIONS
Republicans were most intent on reviving the Paycheck Protection Program with $284 billion, which would cover a second round of grants to especially hard-hit businesses. Democrats won set- asides for low- income and minority-group communities.
The Arkansas Hospitality Association, in a statement earlier Monday, praised the bill, which includes “several items that will benefit our restaurant, lodging, and travel industry, most importantly a second round of access to the Paycheck Protection Program, with unique provisions aimed to assist the industry, which continues to endure unparalleled job and revenue losses.”
Montine McNulty, the organization’s chief executive officer, said the group “worked with the national partner organizations to press Congress and the Trump administration for both long- term and shortterm economic support.”
“This bill will help Arkansas businesses with much needed capital that will create more time for us to work with Congress to create the additional programs to save our beloved industry,” McNulty said.
The sweeping bill contains $25 billion in rental assistance; $15 billion for theaters and other live venues; $82 billion for local schools, colleges and universities; and $10 billion for child care. It also includes $69 billion for the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine and more than $22 billion for states to conduct testing, tracing and coronavirus mitigation programs. It also provides $13 billion in increased nutrition assistance, $7 billion for broadband access, and $45 billion for transportation and transit agencies.
The governmentwide appropriations bill provides a last $1.4 billion installment for Trump’s U. S.- Mexico border wall as a condition of winning his signature. The Pentagon would receive $696 billion. Democrats and Senate Republicans prevailed in a bid to use bookkeeping maneuvers to squeeze $12.5 billion more for domestic programs into the legislation.
The bill was an engine to carry much of Capitol Hill’s unfinished business, including an almost 400-page water resources measure that targets $10 billion for 46 Army Corps of Engineers flood control, environmental and coastal protection projects. Another addition extends a batch of soon-to-expire tax breaks, such as one for craft brewers, wineries and distillers.
The Senate Historical Office said the previous record for length of legislation was the 2,847-page tax overhaul bill of 1986 — about one-half the size of Monday’s behemoth.