A $1.9 trillion bill called the “American Rescue Plan” completed passage in Congress on Wednesday without support from a single Republican, and President Biden signed the bill into law on Thursday.
Democrats say that the third massive coronavirus-related spending and stimulus bill, following the $2.2 trillion CARES act from March 2020 and a $900 billion package from December, is necessary to “crush” the COVID-19 virus and help with economic recovery. Republicans say that the vast majority of the money in the bill has nothing to do with the coronavirus and is instead a wish list of Democratic policy priorities.
Here are highlights of the contents of the bill:
- $1,400 stimulus checks
As a follow-up to the $1,200 and $600 batches of stimulus checks from 2020, the bill provides a third round of stimulus checks of up to $1,400. Individuals who earn up to $75,000 or couples who made up to $150,000 will get the full $1,400 per person, and there are higher income limits for those with children.
- $300 per week extra in unemployment
The federal government will provide an extra $300 per week in unemployment insurance payments on top of state benefits through Sept. 6. The House initially approved $400 per week, but the Senate lowered it to $300.
- $350 billion in aid to states and local governments
States and localities suffering massive budget losses will get controversial relief from the bill, which was excluded for the first two COVID-19 aid bills. States will get money based on their share of national unemployed workers, while $130.2 billion in money to cities and counties will be based on the Community Development Block Grant formula for cities and by population for counties.
Republicans criticized what they called a “blue state bailout” for governments run by Democrats that chose to shut down businesses and activities and open up later than Republican-run states.
San Francisco, home to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will get around $630 million — nearly wiping away the city’s $150 million budget shortfall.
And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s New York gets an estimated $23 billion between the funding for the state government and its localities.
But states run by Republicans will get a fair amount of money, too. Texas will get an estimated $26.7 billion in state and local aid, for instance.
- Vaccine and direct COVID-19 response
Vaccines: The bill includes $5.2 billion for vaccine research, $1 billion for a vaccine awareness campaign, and $500 million to the Food and Drug Administration to review and develop surveillance of vaccines and therapeutics.
Testing and tracing: It also includes $46 billion for contact tracing and mitigation, $1.75 billion for sequencing and watching other COVID-19 strains, and $500 million for developing data surveillance.
Public health: It provides $7.6 billion in funding to health departments to hire 100,000 full-time employees, provide medical equipment, and for managing supplies, data, and reporting.
Health disparities: The bill will allocate $25.2 billion to provide services to underserved communities.
Republicans have complained that only around 9% of the $1.9 trillion bill is directly related to COVID-19 mitigation.
- $168 billion for schools
The education funding includes $126 billion for K-12 schools aimed at helping schools reopen and helping students catch up on learning, $40 billion to support higher education institutions, and $2.75 billion for governors to share with private schools.
- Boost to child income tax credit
The bill expands the child tax credit from $2,000 per child to up to $3,600 per child aged 6 and under and $3,000 per child aged 6 to 17. The benefits phase out by $50 for every $1,000 of adjusted gross income for those making $75,000 per year individually or $150,000 jointly.
- $25 billion in emergency rental assistance and $5 billion in emergency housing vouchers
- $7.25 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program involving small business loans, with extended eligibility for larger nonprofit groups
