Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin arrives at the U.S. Capitol with White House Director of Legislative Affairs Eric Ueland and Acting White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Tuesday. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
With thanks to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), I can provide you definitive information on what the $2 trillion dollar Wuhan Virus economic relief package contains.
Obviously there in concern about the country being able to afford this. I would put to you the question, can we afford not to do this?
It appears obvious that, without this investment from the federal government in our economy to put it back on track — and the Dow is up over 3,400 points the last 36 hours on the mere promise of this package — we will be facing a depression perhaps as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s, which ended only when the U.S. entered World War II.
Early this morning, the Senate and White House negotiators reached a deal on a $2 trillion relief package. The Senate has reconvened today and should, at this writing, approve it in short order.
The House will likely vote tomorrow by acclimation, relieving concerned members of worries of becoming infected if they return to Washington overnight.
Major changes between the initial version that the Senate got within minutes of passing early Sunday morning and the current bill are bullet-pointed below. Those changes are nonetheless essentially the same bill not voted on Sunday.
4 months of more unemployment insurance instead of 3 months.
$55 billion increase in the Marshall Plan for our Health Care System.
$150 billion for a state, tribal, and local Coronavirus Relief fund.
$10 billion for SBA emergency grants of up to $10,000 to provide immediate relief for small business operating costs.
$17 billion for SBA to cover 6 months of payments for small businesses with existing SBA loans.
$30 billion in emergency education funding and $25 billion in emergency transit funding.
$30 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund to provide financial assistance to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, as well as private nonprofits providing critical and essential services.
More than $10 billion for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Health Services, and other tribal programs.
Prohibit businesses controlled by the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and heads of Executive Departments from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs.
Make rent, mortgage and utility costs eligible for SBA loan forgiveness.
Ban stock buybacks for the term of the government assistance plus 1 year on any company receiving a government loan from the bill.
Create real-time public reporting of Treasury transactions under the Act, including terms of loans, investments or other assistance to corporations.
Create of Treasury Department Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery to provide oversight of Treasury loans and a Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to protect taxpayer dollars.
Add a retention tax credit for employers to encourage businesses to keep workers on payroll during the crisis.d a Pandemic Response Accountability Committee to protect taxpayer dollars.
Add a retention tax credit for employers to encourage businesses to keep workers on payroll during the crisis.
Provide income tax exclusion for individuals who are receiving student loan repayment assistance from their employer.
Eliminated $3 billion bailout for big oil.
Eliminated “secret bailout” provision that would have allowed bailouts to corporations to be concealed for 6 months.
Saved hundreds of thousands of airline industry jobs and prohibited airlines from stock buybacks and CEO bonuses.
On the House side, Speaker Pelosi has reluctantly expressed her support for having the chamber adopt the Senate measure. She has agreed to make the House vote a voice vote, with the loudest side (open to interpretation) winning. This eliminates the need for members on both sides of the aisle concerned for Wuhan Virus infection having to return to Washington, D.C. to participate in a roll-call vote.
Any new details I discover from my sources will be shared as they become available.
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