Covid US relief package

Cash assistance

The Senate bill will provide a one-time $1,200 check for an individual making up to $75,000 per year or $2,400 for couples earning less than $150,000. After that, it will be scaled down until it reaches a $99,000 income threshold for an individual or $198,000 for a couple and then phased out altogether. It also provides an additional $500 per child.

Law Makers

The massive legislation that prevents businesses controlled by President Trump from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs included in the bill.

it applies to not just Trump but also Vice President Pence, heads of executive departments and members of Congress.

The provision would also apply to children, spouses and in-laws of the individuals affected.

Unemployment Benefits

The bill provides four months of unemployment benefits.

As part of the bipartisan package, the maximum unemployment benefit would be increased by $600. A GOP Finance Committee aide said the across-the-board increase was more practical because “each state has a different [unemployment insurance] program.”

The unemployment insurance provision is sparking an eleventh-hour fight, with four GOP senators pushing for an amendment vote that would cap unemployment insurance at 100 percent of wages.

They argue that, as currently written, the bill could incentivize individuals not to work. The aide rebutted that, saying, “Nothing in this bill incentivizes businesses to lay off employees. In fact it’s just the opposite.”

Corporate Fund

A $500 billion corporate liquidity fund to help companies impacted by the coronavirus access credit.

$46 billion in direct financial assistance, with $25 billion for U.S. airlines, $4 billion for air cargo carriers and $17 billion for other distressed companies related to critical national security.

A list of restrictions on the aid, including appointing an inspector general to provide oversight, similar to TARP, and “real-time public reporting of Treasury transactions under the Act.”

Ban stock buybacks for the length of government assistance plus one year for companies receiving loans and specifically prohibit airlines from stock buybacks or executive bonuses.

Health care

In addition to economic assistance, the bill includes $100 billion for hospitals, which have warned they could soon be overwhelmed by the steady increase in coronavirus cases.

The bill requires boosting medical supplies in the Strategic National Stockpile amid reports that the country is facing a shortfall of key items such as ventilators, masks and swabs used for coronavirus testing.

It would also require health insurance companies to pay for coronavirus testing and increase funding for community health centers.

Border wall

The Senate bill prevents the Pentagon from shifting $10.5 billion in coronavirus funding to a counterdrug account it has been using to fund the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The bill would allow the Pentagon to transfer the coronavirus funds to other accounts “except for ‘Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities, Defense,’” according to a summary from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

A Democratic summary of the bill described the language as intended to “prevent funds in this title from being diverted to build a wall on the southern border.”

Student loans

The bill would defer payments for federally owned student loans for six months, through Sept. 30.

Democrats had wanted to go a step further by having the Education Department make federal student loan payments for the duration of the coronavirus health crisis. The department, under the Democratic plan, would then make an additional payment at the end to make sure every borrower had received $10,000 toward their student loan debt over the duration of the health emergency.