Missing 2nd Round of Relief
Why can’t the Democrats and the Republicans come to an agreement on the next relief package? As usual, everything is politicized. The difference between the Republican HEALS act and the Democrat’s Pandemic Relief Proposal is $2 Trillion and much of the distribution of funds within these bills is radically different.
Here is a chart to help understand what is going on:
| Previous CARES Act(Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Securities Act) | Republican HEALS Act(Health Economic Assistance Liability Protection & Schools) | Democrat Pandemic Relief Proposal | |
| Cost | $2.2 Trillion | $1 Trillion | $3 Trillion |
| Impact Payment | $1200 per taxpayer + $500 per Child | $1200 per taxpayer + $500 per Child (Including adult dependents age 16+) | $1200 per taxpayer + $1200 per Child |
| Additional Unemployment | $600/week | $200/week (Shooting for 70% wage replacement) | $600/week |
| PPP Loan for small businesses | $377 Billion (+$500 Billion to big Corp) | For businesses with less than 300 Employees with Business Down 50% > | $190 Billion + $100 Billion for seasonal employees |
| COVID Testing | $11 Billion | $16 Billion | $75 Billion |
| COVID Vaccine Research & Distribution | $80 Million to FDA to expedite approval of new drugs | $26 Billion | |
| Schools | $43.7 Billion | $105 Billion-$29 Billion higher education-$5 Billion K-12-$70 Billion for state scholarship programs including private schools | $430 Billion to Schools (including $50 Billion for Child Care Facilities & $130 Billion to higher education) |
| State & Local Govt | $339.8 Billion | $0 | $1 Trillion |
| National Defense | $10.5 Billion + Recent $740 Billion Bill passed for Dept of Defense | $30 Billion-$720 million G-1305 Aircraft- $686 Million F-35 A Aircraft- $650 Million A 10 Wing Replacements- $790 million Space Sensor Laser-$39 Million Cruise Missile Defense-$200 Million Ground Based Defense-$166 Million Hypersonic Defense | $0 |
| Other Provisions | $1.75 Billion New FBI Building$818 Billion NASA | $25 Billion USPS Bailout$3.6 Billion to Bolster Election Security |
There are some obvious points of contention above, but I will point out the two biggies.
- The weekly unemployment amount. At $600/week it is estimated that 68% of workers are making MORE not working than working. The Republicans question the motivation to work with benefits at this level.
- The Democrats challenge the amount the Republicans are putting towards Defense, NASA, and the FBI. Their point is this bill is to help the people not bolster the military.
This is a vast simplification of these extremely long and complicated bills, but as you see the break down, you can also see why an agreement is near impossible. The amount of funds and the distribution of those funds are conflicting and too far apart to find a middle ground.
