NYAPRS Note: The Republican Senate and White House have reached a COVID package agreement that fails to include desperately needed funding for state and localities. Instead, it proposes the following:
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a liability shield to protect businesses, schools and others from coronavirus-related lawsuits, provide $105 billion to help schools reopen and $15 billion for child care centers to create safe environments for youngsters during the pandemic. Of the $105 billion for education, Republicans want $70 billion to help K-12 schools reopen, $30 billion for colleges and $5 billion for governors to allocate. The Trump administration wanted school money linked to re-openings, but in McConnell’s package the money for K-12 would likely be split between those that have in-person learning and those that don’t.
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a possibly reduction in the $600 weekly unemployment benefit boost that is expiring Friday to $200,
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The bill is likely to be silent on the potential housing crisis as a federal eviction moratorium on millions of rental units expires in days.
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One key holdup in the talks was Trump’s push for a payroll tax cut, according to a Republican granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. Hardly any GOP senators support the President’s push for a payroll tax; This strategy would also further weaken Social Security, which is already in a precarious state. Social Security’s trust funds could run out four years earlier than expected because of Covid-19, a recent study from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania found.
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Some Republicans prefer another round of direct $1,200 cash payments to Americans
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There may be another boost for small business lending in the Paycheck Protection Program.
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The bills will also include tax breaks for businesses to hire and retain workers and to help shops and workplaces retool with new safety protocols.
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Testing: The two sides settled on adding $16 billion to he unspent funds to reach $25 billion, senators said. There will also be fresh funds for vaccines.
Advocates for payments to the states and localities, including NY advocates for behavioral health services, be intensifying our focus full attention on convincing House Democrats to insist on such an allocation (Speaker Pelosi has said it’s their top priority). We are also continuing to make our case to the Governor and state legislators that, should federal funds be insufficient, behavioral health providers should be exempt from state cuts given the steadily rising demand for behavioral health and trauma related needs.
NYAPRS and our colleagues continue to work with consumers, family members and providers to make our case in local newspaper across the state.
McConnell Set to Unveil New Virus Aid, Despite GOP Revolt
By Lisa Mascaro NBC Washington July 23, 2020
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is set to unveil a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package on Thursday, pushing past a Republican revolt over big spending and differences with the White House as the virus crisis worsens.
The package, called CARES II, is made up of separate bills from 10 senators as McConnell seeks to replicate an earlier strategy to launch negotiations with Democrats. But the path will be tougher this time. GOP senators and President Donald Trump are at odds over priorities, and Democrats say it’s not nearly enough to stem the health crisis, reopen schools and extend aid to jobless Americans.
The Republican leader is expected to deliver a speech shortly after the Senate opens, and then senators will begin rolling out their separate parts of the package, according to a Republican granted anonymity to discuss the plans.
“Very productive meeting,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said while exiting a session late Wednesday at the Capitol.
The centerpiece of the GOP effort remains McConnell’s liability shield to protect businesses, schools and others from coronavirus-related lawsuits.
The package is not expected to provide any new money for cash-strapped states and cities, which are clamoring for funds, but Republicans propose giving $105 billion to help schools reopen and $15 billion for child care centers to create safe environments for youngsters during the pandemic.
The $600 weekly unemployment benefit boost that is expiring Friday will be reduced, likely to $200, and ultimately adjusted according to state jobless benefits rates. Some Republicans say the boost is a disincentive to work, but others prefer a phased approach.
“We cannot allow there to be a cliff in unemployment insurance given we’re still at about 11% unemployment,” said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
The bill is likely to be silent on the potential housing crisis as a federal eviction moratorium on millions of rental units expires in days.
One key holdup in the talks was Trump’s push for a payroll tax cut, according to a Republican granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. Hardly any GOP senators support the idea. Instead, McConnell and some other Republicans prefer another round of direct $1,200 cash payments to Americans.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said there will be another boost for small business lending in the Paycheck Protection Program. “It’s going to be big,” he said.
The bills will also include tax breaks for businesses to hire and retain workers and to help shops and workplaces retool with new safety protocols.
The breakthrough on testing money was key after days of debate between Republicans and the White House. Republicans wanted $25 billion, but the Trump administration said the $9 billion in unspent funds from a previous aid deal was sufficient. The two sides settled on adding $16 billion to the unspent funds to reach $25 billion, senators said. There will also be fresh funds for vaccines.
Of the $105 billion for education, Republicans want $70 billion to help K-12 schools reopen, $30 billion for colleges and $5 billion for governors to allocate. The Trump administration wanted school money linked to reopenings, but in McConnell’s package the money for K-12 would likely be split between those that have in-person learning and those that don’t.
Democrats, who already approved House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s more sweeping $3 trillion package two months ago, said the GOP infighting with Trump was delaying needed relief to Americans during the crisis.
“We are just days away from a housing crisis that could be prevented,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
In their package, Democrats are calling for $430 billion to reopen schools, bigger unemployment benefits and direct aid checks and a sweeping $1 trillion for state and local governments. They also want a fresh round of mortgage and rental assistance and new federal health and safety requirements for workers.
McConnell calls his proposal a “starting point” in negotiations with Democrats. Congress in March approved the massive $2.2 trillion CARES package, the biggest of its kind in U.S. history.
The severity of the prolonged virus outbreak is upending American life. Schools are delaying fall openings, states are clamping down with new stay-home orders and the fallout is rippling through an economy teetering with high unemployment and business uncertainty. A new AP-NORC poll shows very few Americans want full school sessions without restrictions in the fall.
Still, some Republicans said they are unlikely to approve any new aid.
“I just don’t see the need for it,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told reporters on Wednesday.
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Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Mary Clare Jalonick and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.
Stimulus Checks, Tax Cuts: Here’s What We Know About The Next Stimulus Bill
By Alicia Adamczyk CNBC July 23, 2020
The Senate is back in session this week, and its top priority is to hash out the next coronavirus stimulus package.
Most of the relief measures put in place in March via the CARES Act expire soon, including enhanced unemployment benefits and an eviction ban on federal housing. But state reopenings have stalled as coronavirus cases have exploded. About 32 million Americans were collecting unemployment benefits as of June 27, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s most recent data.
Congress has promised to pass some type of stimulus bill in the coming weeks, which will likely include additional aid for small businesses and more provisions to help the historic number of unemployed people across the country.
Nothing is set in stone yet, but here’s where things stand now.
Eviction ban
Federal and state-wide eviction bans have already expired or will expire soon, leaving potentially tens of millions of households vulnerable to eviction and homelessness. Almost one-third of households missed their housing payments at the beginning of this month.
It is likely that some type of housing relief will be included in the next bill, Flora Arabo, national senior director of state and local policy at Enterprise Community Partners, an affordable housing nonprofit, tells CNBC Make It. The question is how much aid will be earmarked for housing initiatives. Arabo and other housing experts have estimated $100 billion is needed in rental assistance alone to keep people in their homes.
The House of Representatives has passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES, Act and the Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act of 2020 to address the housing crisis. It is not clear what the Senate will do.
Payroll tax cut
President Donald Trump is reportedly pushing for a payroll tax cut in the next bill, though it is unclear whether that will be included or not.
Payroll taxes are used to fund government programs including Social Security and Medicare. Employees have 7.65% of their paychecks withheld for these programs, up to $137,700 in earnings. Employers match that percentage. The Trump administration has said it wants that tax to be temporarily eliminated.
However, the tens of millions of people who are currently unemployed “wouldn’t benefit at all” from a payroll tax cut, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, because they aren’t paying those taxes right now. Instead, high earners — the people least likely to need extra financial help right now — would benefit the most in dollar terms.
CBPP calculates that a couple earning a combined $275,400 (the maximum earnings subject to full payroll taxes) would see $10,534 in tax cuts over six months. Meanwhile, a single parent earning $20,000 would see $765 in tax cuts.
This strategy would also further weaken Social Security, which is already in a precarious state. Social Security’s trust funds could run out four years earlier than expected because of Covid-19, a recent study from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania found.
Stimulus check
Despite initially opposing another stimulus check, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that Congress now wants “another round of direct payments to help American families keep driving our national comeback.”
In the past few weeks, lawmakers have said a second direct payment should be targeted at people at lower income levels than the first round, but McConnell did not specify on Tuesday who would be eligible in the next round.
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on CNBC that the White House supports sending another round of payments. Once the details are hashed out, “we can get that into hard-working Americans’ bank accounts very, very quickly,” he said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/stimulus-checks-tax-cuts-what-will-be-in-the-next-stimulus-bill.html