December 21, 2020

Rep. Lou Correa Votes To Pass Bipartisan COVID-19 Relief Package

Struggling Americans Need Help Now & Cannot Wait For New Administration

Washington, D.C. — Today, after weeks of gridlock, Congress passed a new Coronavirus Relief Package to assist struggling Americans. This legislation provides Americans with additional assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, including expanded unemployment benefits and $600 individual stimulus payments. Congressman Lou Correa condemned partisan gridlock and urged his colleagues to continue working to aid struggling families. 

Rep. Lou Correa said, “For months, Americans have been demanding their government help them. Today’s legislation is a step forward that will provide tangible assistance to struggling families, but it will not be enough on its own. We will need more legislation soon. Both sides need to put aside their differences and continue working to find solutions for struggling working families.”

This Coronavirus Relief Package invests $300 billion in the Paychecks Protection Program, provides unemployed Americans with $300 in federal unemployment insurance payments through April 2021, dedicates $25 billion for state and locally administered rental assistance program, expands SNAP funding, and provides $600 direct stimulus payments to adults and children.

The legislation also includes:

  • Accelerating vaccine distribution and crushing the coronavirus: The bipartisan COVID relief package finally recognizes that we cannot get our economy working unless we can get the coronavirus under control.  The package provides billions in urgently need funds to accelerate the free and equitable distribution of safe vaccines to as many Americans as possible as soon as possible, to implement a strong national testing and tracing strategy with billions reserved specifically for combating the disparities facing communities of color, and to support our heroic health care workers and providers.

  • Ends surprise billing: The package includes bipartisan, bicameral legislation that will end surprise billing for emergency and scheduled care.

  • Strong support for small business: Democrats secured critical funding and policy changes to help small businesses, including minority-owned businesses, and nonprofits recover from the pandemic. The agreement includes over $284 billion for first and second forgivable PPP loans, expanded PPP eligibility for nonprofits and local newspapers, TV and radio broadcasters, key modifications to PPP to serve the smallest businesses and struggling non-profits and better assist independent restaurants, and includes $15 billion in dedicated funding for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions. The agreement also includes $20 billion for targeted EIDL Grants which are critical to many smaller businesses on Main Street.

  • Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions: The agreement includes dedicated PPP set-asides for very small businesses and lending through community-based lenders like Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs); $9 billion in emergency U.S. Treasury capital investments in CDFIs and MDIs to support lending in low-income and underserved communities, including persistent poverty counties, that may be disproportionately impacted by the economic effects of the COVID–19 pandemic; and $3 billion in emergency support for CDFIs through the CDFI Fund to respond to the economic impact of the pandemic on underserved low-income and minority communities.  

  • Rental assistance: Democrats secured $25 billion in critically needed rental assistance for families struggling to stay in their homes and an extension of the eviction moratorium.

  • Strengthens the Low Income Housing Tax Credit: The package enhances the LIHTC to help increase affordable housing construction and provide greater certainty to new and ongoing affordable housing projects. 

  • Direct payment checks: Democrats secured a new round of direct payments worth up to $600 per adult and child, also ensuring that mixed-status families receive payments.  

  • Strengthened Earned Income Tax Credit & Child Tax Credit: The agreement helps ensure that families who faced unemployment or reduced wages during the pandemic are able to receive a strong tax credit based on their 2019 income, preserving these vital income supports for vulnerable families. 

  • Employee Retention Tax Credit: The agreement extends and improves the Employee Retention Tax Credit to help keep workers in the jobs during coronavirus closures or reduced revenue. 

  • Enhanced Unemployment Insurance benefits: Democrats averted the sudden expiration of Unemployment Insurance benefits for millions and added a $300 per week UI enhancement for Americans out of work. 

  • Nutrition assistance for hungry families: Democrats secured $13 billion in increased SNAP and child nutrition benefits to help relieve the historic hunger crisis that has left up to 17 million children food insecure.

  • Education and child care: The agreement provides $82 billion in funding for colleges and schools, including support for HVAC repair and replacement to mitigate virus transmission and reopen classrooms, and $10 billion for child care assistance to help get parents back to work and keep child care providers open.

  • Global Health: Democrats secured an additional $3.36 billion for a total of $4 billion for GAVI, the international vaccine alliance, recognizing that we are not truly safe until the whole world is safe from the coronavirus.

Read the bill here.

Fighting For Orange County Working Families: Over the past nine months, Congressman Lou Correa has vigorously fought for his constituents in Washington, D.C., and has voted in support of five COVID-19 relief packages. Additionally, the Congressman has introduced four bills to address the pandemic, including expanding protections for TSA employees and travelers and the creation of a whistleblower hotline to protect taxpayer money spent on COVID-19 relief efforts. He has also cosponsored 38 other COVID-19 bills, including legislation to protect struggling small businesses, expand healthcare access, and invest in communities hit hard by the disease.  

Congressman Correa has advocated for expanding food assistance benefits, housing and mortgage assistance, and community clinic funding to protect low and middle-income Orange County families most affected by the pandemic’s devastation. 

Congressman Correa also leads the charge to ensure taxpaying noncitizens and mixed-status families were included in federal relief programs. Prior to the Congressman’s actions, households with a noncitizen parent were excluded from receiving federal stimulus assistance.

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Rep. Lou Correa represents California's 46th Congressional District. He serves as Chair of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, and as the Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. Read more here.