Senate Passes $2 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Bill
House to vote Friday morning
The Senate passed a $2 trillion economic stimulus bill Thursday night in a unanimous vote (96-0).
Called the CARES Act, the bill will (according to Senate Republicans):
- Provides a $340 billion surge in emergency funding to combat the coronavirus outbreak. More than 80% of the funding package goes to state and local governments and communities.
- Includes $100 billion for hospitals and health care providers to ensure they receive the support they need for coronavirus-related expenses and lost revenue.
- Includes $16 billion to procure personal protective equipment (PPEs), ventilators, and other medical supplies for federal and state response efforts via the Strategic National Stockpile.
- Includes $11 billion for vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other preparedness needs, with at least $3.5 billion of that to advance construction, manufacturing, and purchase of vaccines and therapeutic delivery to the American people. This is in addition to the billions already provided for these activities in the first supplemental.
- Includes $4.3 billion for the Centers for Disease Control.
- Includes $45 billion for the FEMA disaster relief fund.
- Includes over $19 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs to support increased demand for health care services at VA facilities and through telehealth, including the purchase of medical equipment and supplies, testing kits, and personal protective equipment. Also enables VA to provide additional support for vulnerable veterans.
As well as:
- Increases the supply of drugs and critical equipment, including ventilators and masks.
- Boosts hiring for coronavirus-related health care jobs.
- Ensures all coronavirus tests are free for patients.
- Speeds the development of new vaccines and treatments.
- Ensures Medicare patients can access treatment for coronavirus by increasing payments for providers, and eliminating charges for an eventual vaccine. It also ensures Medicare Part D beneficiaries access to prescription drugs during the emergency.
The CARES Act clocks in at 880 pages. Full text of bill embedded at bottom of post.
The bill now goes to the House, who is expected to vote Friday morning. Trump has urged Congress to pass relief legislation quickly and has promised to sign the relief package immediately.
FLASH: House to vote 9AM FRIDAY per @LeaderHoyer pic.twitter.com/C7d6Y8hRFA
— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) March 26, 2020
Read the bill here:
CARES Act by Legal Insurrection on Scribd
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Comments
I hope there are Wall funds in there somewhere.
You have a great sense of humor.
oh- so this is the bill they are going to WAIT and read, you know the one that passed unanimously by the Senate????
Impeachment is the one that couldn’t wait on.
What’s the over-under Pelosi craters it again?
The Wicked Witch of the West Coast saw the numbers after she hexed the bill the first time with her wish list. They’re going to hide that list and only bring it out again if they win seats in the Senate or the Presidency.
Worst Kept Secret: That list contains a vast number of people and companies who have donated to the Dems with the unspoken understanding that they will receive a piece of the pie in return. If you or I did that, we’d go to jail for bribery. The longer we can keep the Dems from the controls of the Magic Money Machine, the better.
AG barr-sessions is on it.
Barr 54, where are you?….
“The bill passes in the Senate
The House breaks out in fights
The Repubs wanna fight the Virus
The DemoKKKRATS want your Rights…”
“FLASH: House to vote 9AM FRIDAY per @LeaderHoyer”
Flash! Democrat Party says, “Welcome to ‘Fuck America’ Thursday!”
a 5hit Bil, brought by 5shit people.
with any luck, our G*d Emperor will veto it live on TC, and explain what these 3hit weasels are trying to shove through.
#Basta!, to quote the felon
Let’s hope Trump is not enthralled by Mnuchin (Goldman Sachs) and Kudlow (CNBC RINO) and capable of seeing this for what it is. For him to do what you just said would be EPIC.
A helpful suggestion to my Republican friends. Please go through the revised House Bill with a fine tooth comb to ensure that it does not contain a provision which states that in every national election if there is undeniable objective evidence that the Democrat nominee for President is suffering from dementia then the Republican nominee must step aside.
So once again, the GOP caves but this time, it has embraced socialism for good. This was the tipping point. So what was the point of all of the outrage expressed by McConnell, Grahamnesty and Collins? Pelosi demanded the sky and got the solar system. That is NOT a victory. It is just then new tactic to create the appearance that she was reined in. We’ve been snookered. Again.
Same thing I said. And the virus is cover for any fallout related to these stupid moves.
When you need a talking point about pork when discussing with either conservative or liberal-idiot just point to the 75mil that will go to fund PBS and NPR embedded within the Coronavirus stimulus package.
There’s more, too, like the arts center crap to pay off Pelosi’s cronies.
Today – Thursday March 26th 2020 is Nancy Pelosi’s 80th Birthday. Naturally the House cannot vote on the bill today. Does anyone want to use the space below to send Birthday Greetings to Her Grace below
Will California’s ban on elective and cosmetic procedures prevent Pelosi from getting her Botox injectons?
She doesn’t look a day over 90. May this be her last birthday, she has plagued and abused America for so long that I believe we are entitled to reparations from her estate.
A variety of vodka could be packaged, in her memory, with the profits going to a fund for Rush Limbaugh’s Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
There is a killer provision that applies to any company accepting loans made available by this bill:
“The Secretary may enter into agreements to make loans or loan guarantees to 1 or more eligible businesses… if the Secretary determines that, in the Secretary’s discretion—(A) the applicant is an eligible business for which credit is not reasonably available at the time of the transaction; (B) the intended obligation by the applicant is prudently incurred; (C) the loan or loan guarantee is sufficiently secured or is made at a rate that— (i) reflects the risk of the loan or loan guarantee; and (ii) is to the extent practicable, not less than an interest rate based on market conditions for comparable obligations prevalent prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19); (D) the duration of the loan or loan guarantee is as short as practicable and in any case not longer than 5 years…
(F) the agreement provides that, until the date 12 months after the date the loan or loan guarantee is no longer outstanding, the eligible business shall not pay dividends or make other capital distributions with respect to the common stock of the eligible business.”
This is going to kill stock prices for companies affected. Suspending dividends for up to TWO YEARS is a killer for retirees! It’s at the discretion of who… Mnuchin?
The worst part of this was listening to Mnuchin and Kudlow celebrating this as a major victory. I’m sick.
They should wait on this until they find out whether chloroquine is a game changer. If it is, it will change all the numbers. (Unless they don’t want to know.)
Thursday night?
Thankfully the Senate tabled SA 1574 AKA “The Butch Lewis Act” which would have created the Pension Rehabilitation Administration in order to bail out Illinois (and others). They also “tabled” the amendment which would have rescinded the tax on Cadillac Health Care Plans. It’s almost certain that the House will try and put these two offensive sections back in, and dare the Senate not to accept them. Will the republicans capitulate (as usual)?
Trump needs to emphatically state in his presser today that he will not sign a bill that contains pork or superfluous spending. I know he won’t, but he should.
At least you haven’t lost your sense of humor.