WASHINGTON — Unveiling the second major stimulus bill of the pandemic, Congress on Monday approved a $900 billion package aimed at addressing the needs of millions of Americans who have been forced to weather the effects of the coronavirus for months even as many existing federal aid programs ran thin or expired.
The new agreement extends some parts of the CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion stimulus law passed in March, and borrows others with modifications and reductions.
The full text of the legislation, spanning almost 5,600 pages, was passed by the House and Senate soon after it was released. Here are some of the core features.
Individual payments
Among the most anticipated components of the legislation is the direct payments, with $600 going to individual adults with adjusted gross income of up to $75,000 a year based on 2019 earnings. Heads of households who earn up to $112,500 and a couple (or someone whose spouse died in 2020) who make up to $150,000 a year would get twice that amount.
Eligible families with dependent children would also receive an additional $600 per child.
As with the earlier round of payments of up to $1,200 sent out in the spring, the benefit declines for those who earned more than those income levels. It cuts off entirely for individuals who earned more than $99,000.
In a change from the last round, however, payments will not be denied to citizens married to someone without a social security number, allowing some spouses of undocumented immigrants to claim the benefit this time around.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Monday that the payments could begin arriving as early as next week.
Unemployment benefits
With as many as 12 million Americans facing the prospect of losing federal unemployment assistance on Dec. 26, Congress acted to extend multiple programs, albeit at less generous levels than in the spring.
The agreement would revive enhanced federal jobless benefits of up to $300 per week for 11 weeks, providing a lifeline for hard-hit workers until March 14. (The new benefit is half the amount provided by the CARES Act in the spring.)
The legislation also extends Pandemic Unemployment Assistance — a program aimed at a broad set of freelancers and independent contractors — for the same period, providing an additional $100 per week. Still, it requires those applying for the benefit to provide proof of unemployment, which could complicate applications.
Targeted aid for small businesses
With a specific focus on aiding small businesses ravaged by the pandemic, the agreement sets aside $285 billion for additional loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, renewing the program created under the CARES Act.
The latest version includes stricter terms that appear intended to correct some of the unpopular elements of the original program, which allowed a significant share of funds to flow to a tiny fraction of borrowers, including professional sports teams, high-income law firms and national restaurant chains. Public outcry over the distribution of funds sparked an audit by the Treasury Department; the program was also criticized for falling prey to widespread fraud.
Among other measures, the new legislation caps loans at $2 million and makes them available only to borrowers with fewer than 300 employees that experienced at least a 25 percent drop in sales from a year earlier in at least one quarter. The agreement also sets aside $12 billion specifically for minority-owned businesses.
