Trump approves relief bill with Paycheck Protection Program improvements but calls on Congress to increase stimulus payments to individuals and families. Editor’s note: This article is available for members only.
12/28/2020 9:30
President Donald Trump signed the COVID-19 relief package and federal government spending bill Sunday and sent it back to Congress with recissions and a call for a vote on increasing the amount of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000 per person.
At press time, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 275-134 to increase the amount of the stimulus checks to $2,000, The Hill reports. Approval of the increase faces an "uphill battle" in the Republican-controlled Senate, according to the article.
“I will sign the Omnibus and COVID package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed. I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill,” Trump said in a statement on the White House website.
“I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more. On Monday, the House will vote to increase payments to individuals from $600 to $2,000. Therefore, a family of four would receive $5,200.”
Trump’s signature on the bill continues federal unemployment benefits that ended Dec. 26 and extends a moratorium on evictions for renters who are behind on their monthly payments, according to Roll Call. The unemployment benefits, which include an additional $300 per week, will continue for 11 weeks, according to the article.
More debate is expected on the president’s request to remove or reduce targeted aid in the bill, such as foreign aid, Roll Call reports. The recission process holds targeted aid in the bill for 45 days.
After months of negotiations, Congress agreed to nearly $900 billion in COVID-19 relief Dec. 21 with significant areas targeting aid for small businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), ACA International previously reported.
Congress combined COVID-19 relief provisions with the fiscal year 2021 spending bill. The $900 billion bipartisan agreement allocates $325 billion for small-business relief, including $284 billion in funding for PPP loans available to first- and second-time borrowers.
The relief package also creates a simplified PPP loan forgiveness application for loans under $150,000 dollars, whereby the borrower signs and submits a one-page certification that requires the borrower to list the loan amount, the number of employees retained, and the estimated total amount of the loan spent on payroll costs.