UPDATED: On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress on Wednesday.
Included in the bill is long-awaited, targeted aid dedicated specifically to the restaurant industry, new provisions for small businesses across other industries, and more money for the Paycheck Protection Program.
Major provisions of the bill include:
- Sends $1,400 direct payments to most Americans and their dependents. The checks start to phase out at $75,000 in income for individuals and are capped at people who make $80,000. The thresholds for joint filers are double those limits.
- $7.25 billion in additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), to continue providing forgivable loans to struggling small businesses.
- Nearly $30 billion in aid to restaurants.
- Expansion of an employee retention tax credit designed to allow companies to keep workers on payroll.
- Extension of a $300/week jobless aid supplement and programs, making millions more people eligible for unemployment insurance until Sept. 6.
- Expansion of the child tax credit for one year, which will increase to $3,600 for children under 6 and to $3,000 for kids between 6 and 17.
- $20 billion for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing and distribution, along with roughly $50 billion into testing and contact tracing.
- $25 billion in rental and utility assistance and about $10 billion for mortgage aid.
- $350 billion in relief to state, local and tribal governments.
- $120 billion to K-12 schools.
- Increases the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit by 15% through September.
- Expands subsidies and other provisions to help Americans afford health insurance.
The bill passed the House by a 220-211 vote on Wednesday, with all Republicans voting against it, as many GOP lawmakers argued that the job market has rebounded enough to warrant little-to-no new stimulus spending.