Congress Nears New Stimulus Deal: What That Means For Washington

WASHINGTON — Since the trillion dollar CARES Act passed early in the pandemic, congress has remained in a virtual deadlock debating how to follow up the act with a second stimulus package.

So far, they've failed to deliver that much-needed federal relief package to help cash-strapped Americans get through the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. But now, it appears negotiators in Washington, D.C., might finally be nearing an agreement.

This past week, members of Congress worked through the few remaining holdups on a long-delayed $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package. At the center of the package would be billions in aid to small businesses, extended federal and state unemployment benefits, direct payments to Americans, and additional funds to renters and people needing food aid.

The long overdue package comes just as a new report confirms that nearly 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since this summer, in part because emergency benefit programs expired earlier this year. Americans continue to file for unemployment benefits, and the pace of hiring has slowed, particularly in Washington where the economy held stable, but failed to improve over November.

House leaders are eyeing Friday for a possible vote, which is also the day a stopgap funding bill passed by Congress last week is set to expire. A vote would not only decide the fate of the coronavirus relief measure but also a $1.4 trillion government funding bill. Congress must pass the new spending bill by midnight to avoid a federal government shutdown.

Should the coronavirus relief package pass both the House and Senate, here are five things it could do for people and businesses in Washington.

1) Send direct payments to people in Washington.

While initially not part of the plan, direct payments were added to the package after negotiators failed to come to an agreement on aid for state and local governments. Striking that from the measure freed up $160 billion to be used for direct payments.

As is, the package is expected to send one-time checks to millions of Americans below a certain income threshold. The amount will likely be between $600 and $700, The Washington Post reported.

Stimulus payments have received endorsements from President Donald Trump as well as progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has approved of stimulus payments to struggling American's, but criticized the size of those payments and spending directed towards bigger businesses.

The current proposal would send about half of what the CARES Act passed in March provided, which was $1,200 payments per adult and $500 per child.

Additionally, the package is expected to defer federal student loan payments until April 2021, a policy that could impact about 40 million student loan borrowers.

2) Extend federal unemployment benefits for people out of work.

This one has been a long time coming for Washington, with Gov. Jay Inslee calling on congress to expand unemployment benefits at nearly every other conference he's held since the start of the pandemic.

If approved, the relief package would include a $300-per-week bonus federal jobless benefit on top of renewing the of soon-to-expire state benefits.

The CARES Act passed in March gave $600 per week to people who were out of work, on top of their usual state unemployment check. When this funding lapsed at the end of July, Trump signed an executive action to pay a $300-per-week bonus. That money will run out Dec. 31.

The need for additional unemployment aid was underscored Thursday by the release of weekly unemployment numbers — nationwide, 885,000 people applied for jobless benefits last week, the highest weekly total since September.

In Washington, the most recent jobless numbers show about 229,500 residents applied for unemployment last month, an unemployment rate of 6.0 percent.

If for some reason congress does fail to pass the stimulus package, Washington legislators have promised to extend Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits using state funds.

3) Renew an eviction ban for renters.

Right now, Washington's eviction moratorium is set to expire at the end of the year. If passed, congress's package would add another month of protection, banning evictions through Jan. 31, 2021.

It would do this by providing $25 billion to state and local governments to pay for rent and utilities.

Under Washington's moratorium, anyone who can afford to pay rent is still required to do so. Those who cannot pay rent can work with landlords to develop a re-payment plan based on their financial situation.

4) Provide aid to people in Washington who are hungry.

A report by Vox says the package will provide $13 billion to help fund a monthly 15 percent increase in individual SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, aid for children who received food support at school, and money for other programs including Meals on Wheels and WIC (Women, Infants and Children).

Demand for food assistance has spiked dramatically during the pandemic, Vox reports, with food banks across the country facing overwhelming need in recent months.

Nationwide, Feeding America predicts that 39 weeks of historic joblessness and business failures due to the coronavirus pandemic will likely leave as many as 50 million people nationwide without enough to eat.

In Washington, they predict that 804,080 people are struggling with hunger, or one in nine residents.

5) Extend Paycheck Protection Program funding for small businesses.

The new proposal would add $300 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers business owners forgivable loans as a way to help cover employees’ wages instead of laying them off.

The Paycheck Protection Program is geared toward businesses with 300 or fewer employees that have seen a 30 percent or higher decrease in revenue in any quarter this year. A report by Fortune said almost 100,000 small businesses have already closed permanently during the pandemic.

By mid-summer, nearly 16,000 Washington businesses and non-profits had received loans from the Paycheck Protection Program.