As the coronavirus spreads rapidly throughout the country, Washington is scrambling to pass massive legislation allotting hundreds of billions of dollars in relief efforts, the likes of which have not been seen since the 2008 financial crisis. Lawmakers, who have spent the majority of the 116th Congress mired in polarized debates and legislative stalemates, are working in an environment of heightened personal risk. Many are over 65, making them particularly vulnerable to the virus. Two members of Congress, Reps. Ben McAdams of Utah and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, have already tested positive for coronavirus, with a handful of others subsequently self-quarantining.
“These are not ordinary policies,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday. “This is no ordinary time.”
President Donald Trump has already signed two of these packages into law, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is working with Democrats and Republicans to craft a third.
After partisan bickering slowed down the first bill, lawmakers pledged to work together to pass the legislation as quickly as possible on Thursday.
“I’m determined to work on a bipartisan basis,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican. “I think we’re going to be able to work as we have on so many other issues as Americans, not as Republicans and Democrats, as teammates rising to the occasion and answering this crisis as Americans have done so many times in the past.”
TIME has summarized the contents of the first two packages, and how they will directly benefit Americans impacted the virus, as well as what we know about the discussions underway for the third.
Bill #1: Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act
Has President Trump signed it into law? Yes, on March 6th.
Cost: $8.3 billion
What is the funding in the bill for?
- Vaccination developments and research
- Masks and other protective gear for healthcare agencies treating patients
- Health agencies across all levels of government to increase testing and implement measures to control coronavirus
- Loan subsidies for small businesses
Bill #2: Families First Coronavirus Response Act
Has President Trump signed it into law? Yes, on March 18th.
Cost: That is not immediately clear, but it will be more expensive than the first. Most estimates put its price tag at more than $100 billion.
What is the funding in the bill for?
- Food assistance for children reliant on school meals that now face closures
- Unemployment insurance for laid-off workers
- Medicaid funds for state and local government workers
- Free Coronavirus testing for those who need it but cannot pay
- Reimbursements for businesses who give workers paid sick leave
Bill #3: In Progress
Details are still coming together on this massive legislative lift. Right now there are at least three versions of the proposal in the works, which lawmakers will have to negotiate over in the coming days before it passes.
On Thursday McConnell announced that Republicans had finished their outline for a package. Mnuchin and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have also floated proposals for how they’d like see the bill structured.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is also drafting House Democrats’ proposal for the bill, although she does not expect to have it ready for release this week. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, who is self-quarantining after coming into contact with a lawmaker diagnosed with coronavirus, told Republican lawmakers on a conference call Thursday that he would be whipping in support of the Senate’s version of the bill.
How much will the different proposals cost?
There appears to be no cap on spending at this moment. Whereas advisers in the Obama White House worried that a $1 trillion price tag would make the economic stimulus package of 2009 politically unacceptable, that sum no longer appears to be triggering. Even the most ardent of the deficit hawks have quietly rationalized that the programs being discussed are needed and that low interest rates make borrowing prudent.
As things stand, Mnuchin’s package totaled over a trillion dollars, and Schumer’s clocked in at $750 billion. Senate Republicans have not yet released an official price tag for theirs.
What’s in the Senate Republican’s proposal?
The Republican proposal includes direct payments to Americans, provisions to help small businesses, broad assistance to the economy and help for health care providers. McConnell announced that he was convening talks about the plan on Friday with Democrats, the White House and Mnuchin.
“A group of my Republican colleagues are standing by to explain this legislation and to talk with their counterparts,” McConnell said. “These are urgent discussions. They need to happen at a member level. And they need to happen starting right now.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said the GOP plan would delay the tax-filing deadline from April 15 to July 15. The Republican plan includes a one-time payment of up to $1,200 to U.S. taxpayers. A subsequent document from his committee indicated those payments start to phase out for individuals making more than $75,000 and are reduced to zero for those making more than $99,000.
The package also includes up to $50 billion in help for the air carriers, $8 billion for cargo companies and $150 billion for other businesses impacted by the virus.
Grassley also announced provisions that would change how businesses account for losses, how individuals can get tax write-offs for charitable giving and a number of other moves designed to calm skittish businesses. “Who knows how far the effect of this virus is going to be?” Grassley said.
What’s in Mnuchin’s proposal?
The Treasury Department’s proposal, circulated to lawmakers on Wednesday, included $500 billion in payments to Americans, with half being issued on April 6, and the rest on April 18. The proposal did not say how much the payments would be for, but noted that the handouts would “be fixed and tiered based on income level and family size.” Other provisions included $50 billion in loans to the airline industry, with limits on compensation for executives until they were repaid, another $150 billion to unspecified industries, and $300 billion in loans for small businesses.
What’s in Senate Democrats’ proposal?
The Democrats’ proposal, which Schumer outlined on the Senate floor and in a presentation to his conference on Tuesday, includes funds to help hospitals deal with the surge of medical requests and acquire more beds and ventilators, federal funding for childcare to help workers whose children are out of school, and low interest loans to businesses.
It also includes funding to assist seniors and the impoverished, and subsidies for public transportation until ridership resumes, and builds on provisions in the second bill that expand unemployment insurance and assist children who relied on school meals before they closed.
What happens next?
McConnell has sworn the Senate will not break until this bill is passed, but lawmakers have a lot of work to do. Any package needs 60 votes to pass in the Senate, as opposed to a simple majority in the House. And while Democrats broadly appear to accept the idea of cash payments, they have already indicated they will resist corporate assistance if it is not accompanied by what they view as adequate help for Main Street.
“The airline industry just spent billions and billions in stock buybacks in the last two years—liquidity that would come in handy at a time like this. If there is a bailout, there needs to be conditions to make sure the interests of labor are given priority, that corporations can’t buy back stock, reward executives or lay off workers,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday. “We cannot repeat the mistake that was made in 2008 where the big boys and big girls benefited and no one else did. Workers first.”
Senate Republicans worked behind the scenes to hash out differences quietly so as to make the final package appear unanimous. Most recognize this third tranche of programs will be a hodgepodge of help, there is a reluctant acceptance that in a relief package this large, pork is unavoidable. The alternative is simply not an option: the collapse of the economy and critical industries like airlines and shipping companies and unemployment more severe than even that seen during the economic crisis of 2008, as the full 435-member House and one-third of the 100-person Senate face voters this fall.
“It is critical that we move swiftly and boldly to begin to stabilize our economy, preserve Americans’ jobs, get money workers and families and keep up our fight on the health front,” McConnell said. “This is exactly — exactly — what our proposal will do.”
But Pelosi and Schumer already indicated there will be pushback.
“The number one priority is addressing this health crisis, which requires a Marshall Plan to rebuild our health care infrastructure on a continental scale and ensure the resources are there to test and treat everyone who needs it,” they said in a joint statement after the Republicans released their plan. “To earn Democratic support in the Congress, any economic stimulus proposal must include new, strong and strict provisions that prioritize and protect workers, such as banning the recipient companies from buying back stock, rewarding executives and laying off workers.”
