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Category: Legislation

Split Screen: COVID Package in House, Trump Trial in Senate

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As noted yesterday, House committees that received instructions to craft specific parts of the larger COVID relief package will begin to act today, with the Education and Labor Committee marking up its bill at 3 PM today (the session will be webcast here).  The Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I), Financial Services, and Agriculture Committees are scheduled to follow suit by marking up their bills on Wednesday.  Copies of the T & I and Financial Services bills were released late yesterday.

The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to take up its piece of the COVID package next week during a markup that is expected to take multiple days.  The entirety of the Ways and Means package and summaries of each section are available here.  Provisions of interest in the bill include, for example:

  • $1,400 credit for both children and non-child dependents;
  • Tax credits for state and local governments to provide paid family and medical leave created by Families First Corona Response Act, which would become effective March 31, 2021; and,
  • Extension of the employee retention tax credit.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Capitol complex, the full Senate today is scheduled to start the trial to convict former president Donald Trump.  Once the trial officially starts, both sides can use up to 16 hours to make their case.

Budget Resolution Under Consideration

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The FY21 joint budget resolution under consideration by the House and Senate will give “reconciliation” instructions to 11 authorizing committees, directing them to report legislation related to spending, revenue, or debt. The Democrats’ joint resolution carves out an addition $1.9 trillion in deficit spending by changing the top level discretionary spending amount for FY21.

The 3 committees with the largest instructions are:

  • Finance ($1.296 trillion)
  • Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions ($305 billion)
  • Baking, Housing, and Urban Affairs ($89 billion)

The deadline to report legislation is February 16th.

The reconciliation process can be used as a vehicle to pass large agenda items such as a minimum wage increase, COVID relief, and additional stimulus checks, as long as it is related to the budget. Congress is limited to one reconciliation measure each year from each of the categories of direct spending, revenue and the debt limit.

There are various restrictions as to how this process can be used. In the Senate, reconciliation bills are not subject to the filibuster (can pass by simple majority) and amendments must be germane to the bill, however the Byrd Rule applies which limits the provisions included. For a more detailed overview, you can read here.

Deal Reached, One Day CR

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A deal has been reached on an almost $1 trillion COVID relief bill which will be rolled into an omnibus FY21 spending package. The legislation is believed to include support for airline workers, expanded unemployment benefits, funding for contact tracing and testing, vaccine rollout, schools, stimulus checks, and more. Details are not yet publicly available.

A one day continuing resolution will likely be passed to give lawmakers time to actually debate and pass the agreed-upon spending package in each chamber and send to the President before funding expires at midnight tonight.

As noted above, the exact details are not yet available since there is no actual text that has been circulated.  Check back for more updates.

 

Veterans Package Passes Both Chambers

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The Senate and House have now both passed the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020 (H.R.7105). The legislation provides assistance to veterans during the COVID-19 crisis and also includes provisions from the Protect GI Bill making certain changes to education benefits. Specifically, a new dual certification process, risk-based surveys, and monthly reporting for schools would be implemented. Although changes would aim to reduce overpayment risks, colleges would assume liability for such overpayments. Public colleges would also have to provide in-state tuition rates to all GI Bill students.

Now the bill will go to President Trump to be signed into law.

The full text of the bill is available here.