WHAT IS IN THE MEGA-COVID and SPENDING BILL?
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews
Correspondent

After weeks of seemingly intractable negotiations, Congressional leaders reached one of the largest relief and spending deals in U.S. history over the weekend and passed it through both chambers within 10 hours of releasing the text.

This made processing the 5,593-page behemoth challenging. But here is a look at a very small portion of what is in the sweeping (roughly) $2.4 trillion piece of legislation.

Coronavirus relief

• Direct checks: $600 one-time payments will go to individual Americans reporting less than $75,000 in income (or $1,200 for couples earning less than $150,000). Qualified families will get an additional $600 per child.
• Unemployment help: $300 will be added per week to unemployment checks, but only for 10 weeks. That expansion is set to end March 14 and was shortened to help lawmakers find more money for direct checks. Democrats hope to extend it yet again next year.
• PPP: The Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses received another $284 billion in funding.
  • The PPP will offer forgivable loans to small businesses.
  • Businesses with fewer than 300 workers that saw revenues drop 25 percent or more will qualify.
  • The money can be used for payroll, rent, mortgage and other business costs.
  • Those costs are simultaneously tax deductible. Members of Congress debated this but proponents said this was an intentional double benefit for businesses in a tough time. 
  • This version of PPP makes it clear places of worship can qualify and expands the program to local newspapers and TV stations.
• Theaters, museums & entertainment venues: A $15 billion program was created to help them.
• Vaccines and testing: $48 billion was set aside, a huge increase from the bipartisan framework set out a few weeks ago. This includes: 
  • $20 billion to purchase vaccines and make them free for all.
  • $8 billion for vaccine distribution.
  • $20 billion to states for testing and tracing help.
• Schools: $82 billion for K-12 and higher education.
• Child care: $10 billion.
• Rent help: $25 billion. In addition, the bill extends the eviction moratorium to Jan. 31, 2021.
• Food
  • The legislation includes a 15 percent increase in SNAP, formerly known as “food stamp,” for six months. 
  • $13 billion for farmers and agricultural producers, for pandemic food programs, including boxes for food banks. 
• Transportation: $45 billion. This includes $16 billion for airlines, $14 billion for transit and a few billion each for inner city buses and Amtrak. 

Education reform

One of the many separate pieces of legislation tucked inside this gargantuan bill is one of the most significant higher education reforms in years. 

• Pell Grant expansion. The bill changes formulas for who qualifies for the Pell Grant and increases the maximum Pell Grant by $150. All together, Congressional staffers estimated an additional 500,000 students will qualify for Pell Grants and 1.7 million more will qualify for the maximum amount than would under the current formula. 
• Pell Grants for prisoners. The bill would allow incarcerated Americans to qualify for Pell Grants.
• Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Included in the legislature is $1.3-1.4 billion in loan forgiveness for HBCUs. This is forgiveness for loans those colleges took out to repair and replace crumbling buildings and infrastructure.
• FAFSA simplification. The form for student aid will be made simpler, boiled down to no more than 36 questions, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said. That’s down from more than 100. 

Energy and climate

The deal contains a significant bipartisan energy package, long negotiated by Senate Energy Chair Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, as well as some key policy shifts from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

• Greenhouse gasses. Among the bigger new laws here is one that will phase out hydrofluorocarbons in the United States within 15 years. These chemicals, still used for refrigeration and cooling, are considered among the worst offenders in harming the atmosphere/climate.  
• Research for renewable fuels, carbon capture and nuclear power. This bipartisan deal includes tens of billions of dollars for research on hoped-for technologies from all sides of the political spectrum. That includes a concerted effort to understand and find commercially viable ways to capture carbon. Staff members involved told NewsHour that there is more funding for renewable research than for fossil fuel research.

Water resources bill (WRDA)

$10 billion will go to water resources/infrastructure from this bipartisan deal, which will fund some 46 projects across the country.

Surprise medical billing

In a major piece of health care policy, this bill creates protections against unexpected bills from emergency room visits and a few other types of medical care, starting in 2022. Most notably, it protects patients from being balance-billed — when out-of-network providers bill patients for charges their insurer didn’t cover.

Tax help

This bill extends a significant number of tax breaks and makes some permanent. Among those extended, for two years, is a 100 percent tax deduction for business meals. It could boost spending in a boon for the restaurant industry, but critics call it the “three martini lunch deduction” and say it goes too far.

Other stuff

This bill has nearly three dozen “divisions,” or separate sections. Each contains a slew of provisions and new policies or programs. Just a few we saw here:

• Spies and blocking spies. The intelligence reauthorization bill, which establishes key guidelines and spending parameters for the intelligence community.
• Human rights for Tibet.  A long-sought-after bill to push for more human rights, and less Chinese involvement in Tibet.  
• New museums. The bill establishes a national Women’s History Museum and a national Museum of the American Latino. 
• Broadband. The bill includes $7 billion to increase access to broadband in rural communities.
• Horse racing. This establishes an anti-doping program in the sport. 
• Carbon monoxide detectors will now be required in public housing.
• The Mountain State. West Virginia will get a new national park — the New River Gorge National Park.

 

FIVE OVERLOOKED POLITICAL STORIES FROM THE PAST WEEK
By Ian Couzens, @iancouzenz
Politics production assistant

Damage from border wall: blown-up mountains, toppled cactus. Dec. 17.  The Trump administration has expedited border wall construction in wildlife refuges and indigenous territories in Arizona and New Mexico, causing environmental damage that conservationists fear could be irreversible. Why it matters: Biden has promised not to build “another foot” of wall, but it is unclear how his administration can stop construction without leaving half-finished structures and breaking expensive contracts.  -- The Arizona Republic

Space Force expected to live on past Trump era. Dec. 19. While Trump championed the Space Force and coined the name, the military branch has its roots in a 2017 bipartisan House proposal. Why it matters: Some progressive groups want Biden to dissolve the Space Force, but that would take an act of Congress, and many lawmakers view the branch as necessary to ensuring the military puts enough focus on space to counter Russia and China and protect U.S. assets. -- The Hill

These Utahns never got $1,200 federal relief checks and worry they’ll be left out again. Dec. 19. Families in Utah and across the U.S. with mixed immigration status did not receive stimulus checks because the CARES Act automatically disqualified anyone who used an individual taxpayer identification number on their tax returns, which the IRS gives to those ineligible for a social security number. Why it matters: Not only were many non-citizens who pay taxes in the U.S. denied relief checks, but a number of U.S. citizens didn’t receive relief checks because they’re in families with mixed immigration status. -- The Salt Lake Tribune

More than 1.4 million Georgians have already voted in the Senate runoffs, rivaling general election turnout. Dec. 21. Democratic voters have the edge in early turnout ahead of the Jan. 5 runoffs, but that lead is slightly smaller than at this point in the general election, with Republicans closing the gap. Why it matters: The results of the runoffs will determine which party has majority control in the Senate and, accordingly, whether President-elect Joe Biden will be able to enact a more ambitious Democratic agenda. -- The Washington Post

'Subpoenas are necessary': House watchdog details extensive meddling with CDC Covid-19 reports. Dec. 21. The subcommittee investigating Trump's response to the Covid-19 pandemic released new documents Monday that outlined how Trump appointees attempted to “alter or block” 13 scientific reports on the coronavirus on issues that were politically sensitive. Why it matters: CDC reports are typically free from political influence as they are written and reviewed by career officials, but evidence of interference undermines data critical to understanding and combating the coronavirus, putting the American public at greater risk. -- Politico

 

#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Kate Grumke, @KGrumke
Politics producer

Jimmy Carter was the first president to acknowledge Hanukkah. He lit a “national menorah” in Lafayette Square and gave remarks for the holiday. Bill Clinton was the first president to light a menorah in the White House. 

Our question: Who was the first president to hold an official White House Hanukkah party?

Send your answers to [email protected] or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.

Last week, we asked: Which election saw the largest number of faithless electors in U.S. history?

The answer: Either the 1832 election or the 1872 election.

This is a trick question, depending on how you look at it, and our HTD readers guessed both answers. The answer could be 1872, when Horace Greeley died after the election, but before the Electoral College met. His electoral votes were split among four individuals, resulting in 63 faithless electors. Three electors still cast their votes for the dead candidate. 

The other answer could be 1832, when 30 electors from Pennsylvania refused to support the Democrats’ vice presidential pick and two Republican electors did not vote. 

Congratulations to our winner: Eric Groswold!

Thank you all for reading and watching. We’re taking a week off but will drop into your inbox in the new year.