House Passes Emergency Coronavirus Relief Package
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the United States House of Representatives passed an interim relief package which includes increased funding for small businesses, hospitals, and testing and replenishes the Paycheck Protection Program. The bill provides immediate interim support and reflects significant improvements over the initial Senate GOP bill.
“Although this did not include everything we wanted, this relief package provides significant assistance for small businesses, hospitals and healthcare workers, and secures funding for desperately-needed COVID-19 testing,” said Congressman Tony Cárdenas (CA-29). “Today’s action, while positive, is not the end of Congress’ work to rebuild our economy and contain the spread of the coronavirus. I will continue fighting to support small businesses and protect local jobs and working American families.”
The interim relief package:
- Strengthens the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) with $310 billion in additional funding, with $30 billion reserved for community-based lenders, small banks and credit unions and $30 billion for medium-sized banks and credit unions to ensure assistance reaches the smallest businesses.
- Secures an additional $50 billion for SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs), translating into more than $350 billion in loans, and another $10 billion in EIDL grants.
- Expands the HHS coronavirus relief fund for health care providers by another $75 billion to provide resources and support to the institutions and workers on the frontlines.
- Significantly lowers the interest rate on advance payments, lengthening the repayment schedule and distributing payments from general revenues not the Hospital Insurance Fund.
- Secures $25 billion for testing, which is the key to reopening the economy and resuming our lives.
- That includes more funding that goes directly to states, community health centers, and rural health clinics so that those on the frontlines keeping Americans healthy and fighting this pandemic have the resources they need.
- Requires the administration to develop a national strategic testing policy that will focus on increasing domestic testing capacity including testing supplies.
Last month, Congressman Cárdenas introduced legislation to provide free coronavirus testing to uninsured Americans, which was included in the $8.3 billion emergency response aid package. Congressman Cárdenas also introduced H.R. 6019, the bipartisan Cure the Coronavirus Act, legislation to encourage the rapid innovation and approval of a treatment to prevent or cure the COVID-19.