华盛顿——预计众议院将于周五晚些时候通过一项1.9万亿美元的大流行救援计划，其中包括为大多数美国人提供1400美元的支票，为学校、州和地方政府以及企业提供数十亿美元的资金。
共和党人压倒性地反对该法案，这引起了人们的担忧，即这些支出远远超出了必要范围，旨在推进政策重点，而不仅仅是帮助美国人度过这场流行病。民主党人和乔·拜登总统反驳说，需要一个强有力的援助方案来防止这场流行病的长期痛苦恢复。
民主党的目标是在3月中旬额外的失业援助和其他流行病援助到期时，COVID-19救济获得批准。民主党通过副总统的决定性投票控制的参议院将考虑下一个法案。
看看立法的一些亮点:
更多支票
该立法规定，单身纳税人可获得1400美元的退税，共同申请的已婚夫妇可获得2800美元的退税，每个受抚养人可获得1400美元的退税。收入不超过75，000美元的个人将获得全额，收入不超过150，000美元的已婚夫妇也将获得全额。
对于那些收入稍高的人来说，支票的金额将会缩小，个人的硬性截止金额为10万美元，已婚夫妇为20万美元。
一些共和党人希望削减回扣的规模以及有资格获得回扣的美国人的数量，但拜登坚持要1400美元的支票，称“这是美国人民得到的承诺。”新一轮的检查将花费政府大约4220亿美元。
有孩子的家庭享受更大的税收优惠
根据现行法律，大多数纳税人可以为每个孩子减少高达2000美元的联邦所得税。众议院通过的一揽子计划将把税收优惠提高到6岁至17岁的每个儿童3000美元，6岁以下的每个儿童3600美元。
该立法还要求按月支付，而不是一次性付清。如果财政部长认为这不可行，那么就要尽可能频繁地支付。
此外，无论一年挣得多少，家庭都会得到全额贷款，甚至只有几百美元，这导致了人们的批评，认为这些变化会抑制工作。根据哥伦比亚大学贫困和社会政策中心的分析，加上每张个人支票1400美元和提案中的其他项目，该立法将使生活贫困的儿童人数减少一半以上。
对州和城市的援助
该法案将向州和地方政府以及部落政府拨款3500亿美元。虽然国会共和党人在很大程度上反对这一倡议，但拜登的推动在州长和市长中获得了一些共和党的支持。
许多社区的税基受到冲击，因为数百万人失业，人们呆在家里，避开餐馆和商店，以防止感染新冠肺炎病毒。许多地区在治疗病人和增加疫苗接种方面的支出也在增加。
但是影响因州而异，因镇而异。批评人士说，这笔资金没有适当的针对性，而且远远超过了必要的水平，去年春天分配给各州和社区的数十亿美元仍未用完。
对学校的援助
该法案要求为从幼儿园到12年级的学生向学校提供1300亿美元的额外帮助。这笔钱将用于缩小班级规模，改造教室以增强社交距离，安装通风系统和购买个人防护设备。这笔钱还可以用来增加护士、辅导员的聘用，并提供暑期学校。
学院和大学的支出将增加400亿美元，这笔钱将用于支付机构的流行病相关费用，并为学生提供紧急援助，以支付食品、住房和计算机设备等费用。
对企业的援助
该法案为航空公司和合格的承包商提供了另一轮150亿美元的救济，只要他们在9月份之前不裁员或减薪。这是对航空公司的第三轮支持。
一项针对受疫情影响的餐馆和酒吧的新计划将获得250亿美元。赠款为每个实体提供高达1 000万美元的资金，每个实际地点的限额为500万美元。赠款可用于支付工资、租金、水电费和其他业务费用。
该法案还为薪资保障计划提供了72.5亿美元，仅占此前立法拨款的一小部分。这些贷款旨在帮助借款人支付他们的工资和运营成本，并有可能被免除。
对失业者的援助
联邦政府扩大的失业救济金将延长，从每周300美元增加到每周400美元。这是受益者通过他们的州失业保险计划获得的最大收益。
医疗保健服务
该法案为拜登政府新冠肺炎回应的关键要素提供资金，同时也试图推进民主党长期以来的优先事项，如增加奥巴马时代《平价医疗法案》的覆盖面。
在“奥巴马医改”中，它在十几个州面前挥舞着财政胡萝卜，主要是在南方，这些州还没有采取法律的医疗补助扩展来覆盖更多的低收入成年人。这种甜味剂是否足以开始削弱共和党对医疗补助扩展的长期反对意见尚不确定。
该法案提供了460亿美元，用于扩大新冠肺炎的联邦、州和地方检测，并通过新的投资增强合同追踪能力，以扩大实验室能力和建立移动检测单位。它还包含约140亿美元，以加快新冠肺炎疫苗在全国的分发和管理。
提高最低工资
该法案将在2025年6月前逐步将联邦最低工资提高到每小时15美元，然后调整为与每小时工资中位数相同的增长率。然而，该条款预计不会在最终法案中保留。这位参议院议员裁定，在民主党选择以简单多数通过法案的过程中，该法案不能纳入新冠肺炎经济救助计划。
拜登曾预测过这样的结果。然而，这一裁决对大多数民主党议员来说是一个沉重的挫折，他们曾表示，提高最低工资将增加数百万美国人的工资。无党派的国会预算办公室曾预计，一旦新的联邦最低工资完全到位，将使约90万人脱贫。但共和党人表示，强制性加薪将使小企业更难生存，他们指出，CBO预测，随着雇主寻找抵消其较高人事成本的方法，将失去约140万个工作岗位。
Highlights of the COVID-19 relief bill advancing in Congress
WASHINGTON -- The House is expected to pass a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package late Friday that includes $1,400 checks for most Americans and billions of dollars for schools, state and local governments and businesses.
Republicans are overwhelmingly against the bill, raising concerns that the spending is vastly more than necessary and designed to advance policy priorities that go beyond helping Americans get through the pandemic. Democrats and President Joe Biden counter that a robust aid package is necessary to prevent a long and painful recovery from the pandemic.
The Democrats' goal is to have COVID-19 relief approved by mid-March, when extra unemployment assistance and other pandemic aid expires. The Senate, which Democrats control with a tie-breaking vote from the vice president, will consider the bill next.
A look at some highlights of the legislation:
MORE CHECKS
The legislation provides a rebate that amounts to $1,400 for a single taxpayer, or $2,800 for a married couple that files jointly, plus $1,400 per dependent. Individuals earning up to $75,000 would get the full amount as would married couples with incomes up to $150,000.
The size of the check would shrink for those making slightly more with a hard cut-off at $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for married couples.
Some Republicans want to cut the size of the rebate as well as the pool of Americans eligible for it, but Biden has insisted on $1,400 checks, saying “that’s what the American people were promised.” The new round of checks will cost the government an estimated $422 billion.
BIGGER TAX BREAK FOR HOUSEHOLDS WITH KIDS
Under current law, most taxpayers can reduce their federal income tax bill by up to $2,000 per child. The package moving through the House would increase the tax break to $3,000 for every child age 6 to 17 and $3,600 for every child under the age of 6.
The legislation also calls for the payments to be delivered monthly instead of in one lump sum. If the secretary of the Treasury determines that isn't feasible, then the payments are to be made as frequently as possible.
Also, families would get the full credit regardless of how little they make in a year, even just a few hundred dollars, leading to criticism that the changes would serve as a disincentive to work. Add in the $1,400 per individual checks and other items in the proposal, and the legislation would reduce the number of children living in poverty by more than half, according to an analysis from the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University.
AID TO STATES AND CITIES
The legislation would send $350 billion to state and local governments and tribal governments. While Republicans in Congress have largely objected to this initiative, Biden’s push has some GOP support among governors and mayors.
Many communities have taken hits to their tax base as millions of people have lost their jobs and as people stay home and avoid restaurants and stores to prevent getting COVID-19. Many areas have also seen expenses rise as they work to treat the sick and ramp up vaccinations.
But the impact varies from state to state and from town to town. Critics say the funding is not appropriately targeted and is far more than necessary with billions of dollars allocated last spring to states and communities still unspent.
AID TO SCHOOLS
The bill calls for $130 billion in additional help to schools for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The money would be used to reduce class sizes and modify classrooms to enhance social distancing, install ventilation systems and purchase personal protective equipment. The money could also be used to increase the hiring of nurses, counselors and to provide summer school.
Spending for colleges and universities would be boosted by $40 billion, with the money used to defray an institution’s pandemic-related expenses and to provide emergency aid to students to cover expenses such as food and housing and computer equipment.
AID TO BUSINESSES
The bill provides another round of relief for airlines and eligible contractors, $15 billion, so long as they refrain from furloughing workers or cutting pay through September. It’s the third round of support for airlines.
A new program for restaurants and bars hurt by the pandemic would receive $25 billion. The grants provide up to $10 million per entity with a limit of $5 million per physical location. The grants can be used to cover payroll, rent, utilities and other operational expenses.
The bill also provides another $7.25 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, a tiny fraction of what was allocated in previous legislation. The loans are designed to help borrowers meet their payroll and operating costs and can potentially be forgiven.
AID TO THE UNEMPLOYED
Expanded unemployment benefits from the federal government would be extended, with an increase from $300 a week to $400 a week. That's on top of what beneficiaries are getting through their state unemployment insurance program.
HEALTH CARE
The bill provides money for key elements of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 response, while also trying to advance longstanding Democratic priorities like increasing coverage under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.
On “Obamacare,” it dangles a fiscal carrot in front of a dozen states, mainly in the South, that have not yet taken up the law’s Medicaid expansion to cover more low-income adults. Whether such a sweetener would be enough to start wearing down longstanding Republican opposition to Medicaid expansion is uncertain.
The bill provides $46 billion to expand federal, state and local testing for COVID-19 and to enhance contract tracing capabilities with new investments to expand laboratory capacity and set up mobile testing units. It also contains about $14 billion to speed up the distribution and administration of COVID-19 vaccines across the country.
RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE
The bill would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by June 2025 and then adjust it to increase at the same rate as median hourly wages. However, that provision is not expected to survive in the final bill. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that it cannot be included in the COVID-19 economic relief package under the process Democrats chose to undertake to get a bill passed with a simple majority.
Biden had predicted such a result. Still, the ruling was a stinging setback for most Democratic lawmakers who had said the higher minimum wage would increase the pay for millions of Americans. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had projected the new federal minimum wage would lift some 900,000 people out of poverty once it was fully in place. But Republicans said the mandatory wage hikes would make it harder for small businesses to survive and they pointed to the CBO's projection that about 1.4 million jobs would be lost as employers looked for ways to offset their higher personnel costs.
