House Democrats Unveil First Draft of Stimulus-Bill Measures
Bloomberg
Published Feb 08, 2021 19:10
Updated Feb 08, 2021 19:27
(Bloomberg) -- House Democrats on Monday released the first draft text for key pieces of legislation that will comprise President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 relief bill.
The legislative language released by the Education and Labor Committee and Committee on Financial Services shows Democrats are forging ahead with plans to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, and have earmarked $15 billion for airline-worker payroll assistance.
These and 10 other committees are meeting in the coming days to assemble the stimulus bill for a House floor vote the week of Feb. 22. Once the bill goes to the Senate, it is designed to be passed with just 50 members plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris using a special budget fast-track procedure.
House Democrats are showing with Monday’s bill text that they will try to increase the minimum wage despite a raging debate over whether Senate rules permit them to do so through the so-called reconciliation procedure.
Education and Labor Chair Bobby Scott’s draft bill includes the wage increase, which also phases out the lower wage for tipped workers. The committee, set to meet Tuesday to hold votes on the bill, estimates 27 million workers will see a pay increase under the provision by 2025.
The draft bill also has $130 billion for kindergarten through 12th grade school reopening and $40 billion for higher-education institutions. Childcare businesses would benefit from $39 billion in funding.
The bill would extend pandemic food benefits using $5 billion and expand home heating assistance by $4 billion. Provisions to tighten workplace safety standards for Covid-19 are also included, as is funding to subsidize health insurance for the newly unemployed.
Senior-care services would receive $1.4 billion, and money is set aside to combat a rise in domestic violence and child abuse that have come with the pandemic and lockdowns.
Homeowner Aid
The Financial Services Committee is charged, under the terms of the 2021 budget adopted last week by Congress, with drafting legislation totaling $75 billion in deficit increases. Chair Maxine Waters (NYSE:WAT) will convene the panel on Wednesday to vote on this portion of the bill.
According the committee’s draft legislation, that will include $10 billion to use the Defense Production Act to produce masks and other Covid-19 equipment, $25 billion for rental assistance, and $5 billion in assistance for the homeless. The bulk of the rental aid program would run through the Treasury Department.
Homeowners would benefit from $10 billion for direct assistance with mortgage payments, property tax payments and utility costs.
For airlines, $14 billion in payroll assistance would be provided directly to airlines and $1 billion to contractors.
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The House Ways and Means Committee is planning for a multi-day process to approve the tax portions of the stimulus bill, starting on Wednesday. That text includes another round of relief checks, paid-leave benefits and expanded tax credits for families with children and low-income individuals. It also addresses the extended unemployment benefits that Biden called for in his overall $1.9 trillion proposal.
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