WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — In one of her last communications to constituents before her 20 year career as a congresswoman ends, Susan Davis of San Diego outlined the bipartisan bill that will send Covid relief to millions of Americans. Her letter follows:
Dear Friend,
Congress reached a bicameral, bipartisan agreement with the White House on an emergency coronavirus relief and government funding package to save lives and address the urgent needs of the American people. This agreement recognizes that we cannot get our economy working unless we can get the coronavirus under control and send much needed relief to those most impacted by the pandemic.
Here are a few highlights from the bipartisan package:
- Urgently needed funds to accelerate the free distribution of vaccines
- A new round of direct payments of $600 per adult and child
- An enhancement of Unemployment Insurance of $300 per week
- Additional funds for forgivable PPP loans for small businesses
- $82 billion in funding for schools and colleges, $10 billion for child care
See below for a more detailed summary of the bipartisan agreement and key higher education provisions included in the package.
Emergency Coronavirus Relief and Government Funding Package
The bipartisan agreement on emergency coronavirus relief includes many important provisions Democrats fought hard to secure.The package:
- Accelerates Vaccine Distribution to Crush the Coronavirus: Democrats secured billions in urgently needed funds to accelerate the free and equitable distribution of safe vaccines to as many Americans as possible as soon as possible. This funding also helps implement a strong national testing and tracing strategy with billions reserved specifically for combating the disparities facing communities of color and to support our heroic health care workers and providers.
- Provides Direct Payments, Rent, Food, and Unemployment Money for the American People: Democrats secured another round of direct payments worth up to $600 per adult or child, averted the sudden expiration of Unemployment Insurance benefits for millions and added a $300 per week UI enhancement for Americans out of work, and lengthened the number of weeks an unemployed worker can receive benefits by 11 weeks. Direct payments could be available as soon as next week and will be sent to all Americans who received a payment earlier this year. Additionally, the bill includes critically needed emergency rental assistance, extends the federal eviction moratorium, provides a 15 percent increase to SNAP, and boosts child nutrition benefits to help relieve the historic hunger crisis that has left up to 17 million children food insecure.
- Delivers Key Tax Benefits for Struggling Families: Democrats won improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit that help ensure that families who faced unemployment or reduced wages during the pandemic are able to receive a strong tax credit based on their 2019 income, preserving these vital income supports for vulnerable families. To support workers, the agreement extends and improves the Employee Retention Tax Credit to help keep workers in their jobs during coronavirus closures or reduced revenue and also provides a tax credit to support employers offering paid sick leave, based on the Families First framework.
- Provides Strong Support for Small Businesses: Democrats secured critical funding and policy changes to help small businesses, including minority, women, and veteran owned small businesses. The agreement includes over $284 billion for first and second forgivable PPP loans, dedicates set-asides for very small businesses and lending through community-based lenders like CDFIs and MDIs, key modifications to PPP to serve the smallest businesses and struggling non-profits and better assist independent restaurants, $15 billion in dedicated funding for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions and $20 billion for targeted EIDL Grants which are critical to many smaller businesses on Main Street. Additionally, businesses that received PPP loans will be able to take tax deductions for the expenses covered by forgiven loans, saving businesses about $200 billion.
- Funds Education, Child Care, and Students: The agreement provides $82 billion in funding for colleges and schools, including support for HVAC repair and replacement to mitigate virus transmission and reopen classrooms, and $10 billion for child care assistance to help get parents back to work and keep child care providers open. The package includes the largest expansion of Pell Grant recipients in over a decade, reaching 500,000 new recipients and ensuring more than 1.5 million students will now receive the maximum benefit.
- Delivers More Affordable Broadband Access: The agreement invests $7 billion to increase access to broadband, including a new Emergency Broadband Benefit to help millions of students, families and unemployed workers afford the broadband they need during the pandemic.
- Secures Key Funding Streams for State and Local Governments: While state and local governments need much more funding to prevent the senseless layoffs of heroic essential workers and critical service cuts, Democrats won new targeted funds for state and local government functions that will help alleviate their overall budget burdens. These targeted funds include the emergency resources for schools, $27 billion for state highways, struggling transit agencies, Amtrak and airports, $22 billion for the health-related expenses of state, local, tribal and territorial government and an additional year of eligibility for expenses under the CARES Coronavirus Relief Fund.
- Creates Good-Paying Jobs in Clean Energy and Infrastructure to Fight the Climate Crisis: The agreement includes sweeping clean energy reforms, R&D enhancements, efficiency incentives, extends clean energy tax credits and includes the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act of 2020, creating more good-paying jobs strengthening and improving the vital water infrastructure that Americans rely on. The package also phases out superpollutant HFCs, positioning the U.S. to lead the world in avoiding up to 0.5 degree Celsius of global warming.
- Ends Surprise Billing: Patients deserve the peace of mind to know that, whether in an emergency or a planned in-network procedure, they will not be hit with crushing, surprise medical bills for out-of-network treatment beyond their control. The agreement includes bipartisan legislation that will end surprise bills for emergency and scheduled care, so patients are only responsible for their usual cost-sharing amounts and deductibles. With patients protected, the legislation establishes a fair process for health care providers and health plans to sort out the out-of-network costs between themselves, without the patient stuck in the middle.
- Supports the Global Fight Against COVID: Democrats secured an additional $3.36 billion for a total of $4 billion for GAVI, the international vaccine alliance, recognizing that we are not truly safe until the whole world is safe from the coronavirus.
Key Higher Education Provisions
As Chair of the Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee, making college more affordable has been one of my top priorities. I’m proud to share that Congress also reached an exciting agreement on higher education that will make this a reality for millions of students.Here are a few longstanding priorities we secured in the bill:
- Expanding the Pell Grant program and making it easier for students to predict their eligibility, which will make hundreds of thousands of students newly eligible for Pell and increase award amounts for millions of current Pell recipients.
- Making it easier for students to apply – and qualify – for federal student aid by streamlining the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and expanding outreach and awareness activities to encourage FAFSA completion, with a focus on low-income students and families.
- Expanding opportunities for justice-involved individuals to get an education and successfully reenter their communities by providing incarcerated students access to Pell Grants.
- Discharging loans made to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) under the HBCU Capital Financing Loan program, providing $1.34 billion in relief.
- Eliminating a confusing and punitive restriction that limits eligibility for subsidized federal loans among low-income students.
- Restoring Pell Grant eligibility for defrauded students, including those who attended shuttered for-profit colleges like ITT Technical Institutes and Corinthian Colleges.
This bipartisan agreement is an important step toward getting the American people the relief many have desperately needed for months. However, I recognize that much more needs to be done. The cost of living in San Diego is high and with many families struggling to put food on the table, I wish we could have provided more financial resources directly to families.
I’m hopeful that my colleagues in the 117th Congress will continue to pass legislation to help families and small businesses survive this pandemic. And I’m confident that under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, the federal government will move forward with a science-based approach to end the pandemic and get our economy back on track.
Although we fought hard for a better deal, I voted in support of this package to send immediate relief to all Americans.
Warm regards,