Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House are making substantive progress in putting together a serious coronavirus response bill that can actually pass in the Senate, possibly as soon as Tuesday afternoon. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been included in the negotiations, but if Mitch McConnell and his Republicans refuse to go along, she has an aggressive bill to counter it, providing real leverage for Schumer and Senate Democrats.
The toplines of Pelosi's plan include direct has payments to every American with a tax ID number of $1,500, up to $7,500 for a family of five, available to retirees and the unemployed. Beyond that, it creates a "Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation" program that provides $600 a week to any worker eligible for unemployment benefits, including self-employed workers, contractors and new entrants to the job market. It would supplement existing benefits to replace 100% of wages for the average worker. The House plan would also expand sick days and family medical leave to "nearly ever worker," and expands and gives an infusion of funds to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
It would provide more than $150 billion to hospitals and community health centers, as well as other government medical programs. In addition, it provides $80 billion in low-interest loans to hospitals. It prohibits insurance companies from imposing cost-sharing on coronavirus treatments and vaccines for every patient, including the uninsured and increases the subsidies available through the ACA marketplaces. It would also open enrollments on the ACA marketplace and provide incentives for the 14 states that haven't expanded Medicaid to take it. It has $500 billion in grants and interest-free loans for small businesses and provides a $200 billion stabilization fund for states and $15 billion to local governments.
It also includes strict conditions for any corporation receiving bailout funds, including bans on using funds for stock buy-backs. Critically, it would provide funding to states national vote-by-mail to protect the 2020 elections.
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