President Biden Proposes Large COVID-19 Rescue Plan: Abstract And Outlook – Coronavirus (COVID-19)

By Last updated Jan 22, 2021

United States:
President Biden Proposes Massive COVID-19 Rescue Plan: Summary And Outlook

21 January 2021

Holland & Knight

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Highlights

President Joe Biden has proposed a
$1.9 trillion package of policies to address the healthcare,
economic and societal harms caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plan includes new leave
requirements on employers, a $15 federal minimum wage and an
additional $1,400 in direct assistance to individuals among other
relief to workers and families; additional funding for COVID-19
vaccination, testing and prevention; additional aid to small
businesses and local, state and tribal governments; and measures to
address recent cybersecurity attacks against the U.S. government by
modernizing and securing federal information and technology.
Although the plan includes certain
executive actions, the vast majority of proposals are dependent on
Congress enacting legislation. President Biden has indicated his
preference to enact the package through regular order, requiring
bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate. However, Democrats in
Congress are laying plans to pass the package through budget
reconciliation should bipartisan negotiations break down.

President Joe Biden has proposed an “American Rescue
Plan,” which was described as an “emergency legislative
package to fund vaccinations, provide immediate, direct relief to
families bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis, and support
struggling communities.” The plan, announced on Jan. 14, 2021,
includes four main categories of proposals:

supporting a COVID response plan by
mounting a national vaccine program containing the spread of
COVID-19 and safely reopening schools
delivering immediate relief to
working families bearing the brunt of the crisis
supporting communities that are
struggling in the wake of COVID-19
modernizing federal information
technology (IT) to protect against future cyberattacks

The plan is a $1.9 trillion package to address the healthcare,
economic and societal harms of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as
recent cyberattacks against the U.S. government. Although the
current plan is limited on details, it is likely to be expanded
upon and subject to negotiations on Capitol Hill in the weeks
ahead. This Holland & Knight alert summarizes the plan’s
proposals and outlines the legislative path forward.

COVID-19 Response and Healthcare Measures

The American Rescue Plan urges Congress to approve $415 billion
in emergency spending to establish a national vaccination program,
increase reimbursement for vaccines, expand testing and invest in
domestic manufacturing of certain pandemic-related medical
supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE). If
approved, it would represent the federal government’s biggest
investment in public health efforts to address the pandemic. These
provisions include the following:

$50 billion to expand the
nation’s coronavirus testing efforts, including funding for
purchasing rapid tests, increasing lab capacity, and implementing
regular testing for schools and local governments
$30 billion for the federal Disaster
Relief Fund to help ensure that the United States has sufficient
supplies and protective gear, as well as provide state and local
governments and tribes with 100 percent federal reimbursement for
critical emergency response resources, including National Guard
deployment (this effort would be in addition to President
Biden’s commitment to using the Defense Production Act to
produce more supplies)
$20 billion in a national vaccination
program in partnership with states, localities, tribes and
territories, with the aim of 100 million vaccinations by the end of
Biden’s first 100 days
$20 billion for veterans’
healthcare
$10 billion to boost domestic
manufacturing of pandemic supplies
$4 billion to the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to expand access to
mental health and substance abuse services
$800 million to help survivors of
domestic violence
the recruitment of 100,000 public
health workers to conduct vaccine outreach and contact tracing in
the immediate term; in the long run, the roles would transition
into community health roles
ensure that vaccines and supplies are
distributed equitably and expand healthcare services for
underserved communities by opening more community health centers
and investing in health services on Native American land
increase the Federal Medicaid
Assistance Program (FMAP) to 100 percent coverage for the
administration of vaccines
subsidize continuation health
coverage (COBRA) for those who lose their employer-sponsored health
insurance through Sept. 30, 2021
increase the value of the Premium Tax
Credit used on individual health insurance exchanges to ensure that
individuals pay no more than 8.5 percent of income for health
insurance coverage
Biden also noted that his
administration would work with states to identify priority groups
for the vaccines, including those 65 and older and frontline
workers; Biden also would use the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) to create 100 federally supported vaccination centers
across the country

The plan does not include additional funding for the Provider
Relief Fund or other provider relief proposals. However, those
items could still be included in eventual legislation.

Relief to American Workers and Families

The plan also includes efforts to aid workers and families
through roughly $1 trillion in policies aimed at economic recovery.
These policies, costing roughly $1 trillion, would, according to
the Biden campaign’s summary, “[build] a bridge to
economic recovery for working families and, according to
researchers at Columbia University, cut child poverty in
half.” The American Rescue Plan calls on Congress to:

Establish a Worker Safety Standard and Increase Wages

Authorize the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) to issue standards that cover a broad
set of workers to protect against unsafe working conditions and
retaliation, as well as provide additional OSHA funding
Increase the national minimum wage
from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour
Call on employers to provide back
hazard pay to essential frontline workers, including those in the
retail and grocery sectors

Extend and Expand Emergency Worker Leave

Reinstate changes to the Emergency
Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act and Emergency Paid Sick
Leave Act created by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
(FFCRA) and expand them to:
- Apply to all employers instead of
  only those between 50 to 500 employees
- Provide over 14 weeks of paid sick
  and family and medical leave to help parents with additional
  caregiving responsibilities when a child or loved one’s school
  or care center is closed, for people who have or are caring for
  others with COVID-19, or who are quarantining with exposure
- Reimburse employers with fewer than
  500 employees, as well as state and local governments, for the cost
  of leave

Provide Checks to Individuals

Provide an additional $1,400 per
person in direct financial assistance while also expanding
eligibility to adult dependents and mixed-status households, as
well as calling on the U.S. Department of the Treasury to deliver
the earlier $1,200 direct payments under the CARES Act to families
that did not receive them

Extend and Expand Unemployment Insurance

Increase supplemental Federal
Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) payments from $300 per
week to $400 per week in unemployment insurance benefits to help
laid-off workers cover household expenses
Extend the availability of federal
unemployment insurance benefits through September 2021
Allow for automatic adjustments to
the length and amount of relief based on health and economic
conditions in order to prevent reliance on legislation to reinstate
benefits if economic and health conditions meet certain threshold
requirements so that these supports are provided for the full
duration of the pandemic (specific triggers are not discussed in
the proposal)
Extend financial assistance for
unemployed workers who typically do not qualify for unemployment
compensation benefits (including self-employed and gig economy
workers)

Provide Housing Assistance

Extend the eviction and foreclosure
moratorium and continues applications for forbearance on federally
guaranteed mortgages until Sept. 30, 2021, to prevent evictions and
loss of homes during the pandemic (the current CDC eviction
moratorium is set to expire at the end of January)
Provide $30 billion in rental and
energy and water assistance for families
- Includes an additional $25 billion
  for the Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program established by
  the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 to assist renters and
  small landlords
- $5 billion to cover home energy and
  water costs and arrears through programs such as the Low-Income
  Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Provide Food Aid to Address Hunger

An extension of the 15 percent
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits increase
through September 2021
$3 billion for the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Woman, Infants, and Children
(WIC)
A partnership with restaurants to get
food to families in need and assist laid-off restaurant
workers
Temporarily cutting the state match
for SNAP
$1 billion in additional nutrition
assistance for Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands

Provide Child Care Support

Provide $25 billion for an Emergency
Stabilization Fund to help child care providers safely stay open or
reopen after the pandemic
Provide an additional $15 billion in
emergency funds for the Child Care and Development Block Grant
(CCDBG)
Increase for one year the size of the
Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) as well as making the
credit refundable so that lower-income families can access the
reimbursement

Provide Tax Relief for Families and Essential Workers

Expand temporarily the Earned Income
Tax Credit (EITC) for childless workers by increasing the size of
the maximum credit, raising the income limit for the credit and
expanding the eligible age range from 25-64 to 19-65 (excluding
full-time students aged 19-24)
Expand temporarily the Child Tax
Credit (CTC) to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for children under age 6)
for one year while also making it fully refundable to expand access
to 27 million children living in households that currently lack
enough income to qualify; during this period, children aged 17
would also qualify for the credit
Promote cash assistance through
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) by providing an
additional $1 billion in emergency funding for states to meet the
needs of increased caseloads

Support to Small Businesses and Governments

With a stated goal to aid small businesses, protect educators,
public transit workers and first responders from layoffs, as well
as keep critical services running at full strength, the plan
proposes $440 billion to support communities through the following
proposals:

Support to Small Businesses

$15 billion in “flexible,
equitably distributed” grants to the hardest-hit small
businesses
$35 billion in small business
financing programs, with the aim of leveraging it into $175 billion
in lending and investment
Unspecified aid to restaurants, bars
and other businesses that have suffered disproportionate harm to
ensure they have sufficient support through federal aid programs,
including the Commodity Credit Corporation of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture

Support for State, Local and Tribal Governments

Call on Congress to provide $350
billion in state, local and territorial funding, as well as $3
billion in Economic Development Administration grants
$20 billion in relief for hard-hit
public transit agencies, to maintain employment and transit routes
for essential workers
$20 billion in direct funding to
tribal governments for protective equipment, clean water,
electricity, expanded internet access and other resources to reduce
inequities related to COVID-19 transmission, hospitalizations,
death and related economic effects

Federal Information Technology

While the bulk of the proposal addresses the effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic, it also includes measures to address recent
cybersecurity attacks against the U.S. government. President Biden
calls on Congress to modernize and secure federal information and
technology through the following measures:

$9 billion for the Cybersecurity and
Information Security Agency (CISA) and General Services
Administration (GSA) to launch new programs and complete existing
IT modernization projects
$200 million for the IT Oversight and
Reform fund for the hiring of experts to support the Chief
Information Security Officer and U.S. Digital Service
$300 million in no-year funding for
the GSA to secure IT projects without the need for agency
reimbursement
$690 million for CISA to increase
cybersecurity across federal networks

The Legislative Path Ahead

Several of the COVID-19 relief provisions included in the
end-of-year Consolidated Appropriations Act will expire in March
2021. Accordingly, Congress will likely aim to pass another relief
bill before those provisions expire.

Given the slim Democratic majorities in Congress and the 60-vote
filibuster threshold that will likely continue to be required to
pass legislation in the Senate, any legislation will have two paths
to becoming law. They will either have to be passed through the
Senate’s budget reconciliation process (see Holland &
Knight’s previous alert, “Senate Elections Make Budget Reconciliation a
Potential Tool in 117th Congress,” Jan. 7, 2021) or create
a bill that would receive bipartisan support in the Senate to
advance by regular order. Although several Senate Republicans have
indicated support for further relief measures, Democrats in the
House and Senate have said they would be prepared to use budget
reconciliation to bypass a filibuster if needed.

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