Biden Unveils $1.9T COVID-19 'Rescue' Plan
  • Plan calls for $400 billion toward a national testing and vaccination plan.
  • President-elect Biden prioritizes over $1 trillion in direct relief to families, $440 billion in aid to communities and businesses.
  • New governing mandate and unified Congress boosts the plan's prospects, but intraparty obstacles linger.
This evening, President-elect Joe Biden released the first phase (fact sheet; summary) of his COVID-19 plan, detailing $1.9 trillion in “rescue” priorities for Congress as he looks to ramp up the federal government’s efforts to stamp out the pandemic. The proposal is divided into three main areas: (1) $400 billion toward a national testing and vaccination plan; (2) over $1 trillion in direct relief to families; and (3) $440 billion in aid to communities and businesses. President-elect Biden intends to release the “recovery” phase of his plan in February, which is widely expected to include broader economic stimulus measures such as a comprehensive infrastructure package and additional tax relief.

  • Context. The President-elect will be sworn into office next Wednesday under the unprecedented circumstances of the global pandemic, and an impeachment trial in the Senate for his predecessor President Donald Trump that will certainly eat up Congressional bandwidth during his first 100 days. With narrow Democratic control in both chambers and a new governing mandate, certain aspects of President-elect Biden’s proposal — particularly around testing, treatment, and vaccines — have a strong chance of becoming law. He will, however, need to walk a delicate policy tightrope between progressive and centrist priorities, which could jeopardize the fate of proposals such as another round of economic impact payments and boosting the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Key policies in the President-elect’s COVID-19 plan include:

  • National Vaccination and Testing Plan. The President-elect’s proposal would invest $20 billion in a national vaccination program in partnership with states, localities, Tribes, and territories. This includes launching community vaccination centers around the country and deploying mobile vaccination units to hard-to-reach areas. It also calls on Congress to expand the federal share of Medicaid expenditures to 100 percent for the administration of vaccines. Additionally, $50 billion will be allocated toward a “massive expansion” of COVID-19 testing.

  • Public Health Workforce. The proposal seeks to fund 100,000 public health workers in an effort to bolster the country’s community health workforce. These individuals will be hired to work in their local communities to conduct vaccine outreach and contact tracing. The Biden team also envisions these workers transitioning into broader community health roles that seek to build long-term health capacity, improve quality of care, and reduce hospitalizations for low-income and underserved communities.

  • Health Coverage. President-elect Biden is calling on Congress to extend COBRA subsidies through the end of September in a move to help shore up coverage for individuals during the balance of the pandemic. It asks lawmakers to expand and increase the value of the Premium Tax Credit to lower or eliminate health insurance premiums while also ensuring enrollees do not pay more than 8.5 percent of their income for coverage.

  • Paid Leave. The plan calls on Congress to provide more than 14 weeks of expanded paid sick, family, and medical leave through September 30, 2021. Additionally, President-elect Biden is urging Congress to put the paid leave requirement back into place, as well as eliminate exemptions for employers with more than 500 and less than 50 employees. Other key policies include: (1) expanding paid leave to federal workers; (2) provide a maximum paid leave benefit of $1,400 per week for eligible employers; and (3) reimbursement for employers and state and local governments for the cost of this leave.

  • State and Local Aid. President-elect Biden’s plan calls on Congress to provide $350 billion in emergency funding for states, local governments, and territories, with an emphasis on keeping employees on the payroll. The funding tranche will also cover costs related to vaccine distribution, testing, and school reopening efforts. Additionally, President-elect Biden is encouraging Congress to allocate $3 billion toward the Economic Development Administration (EDA), thus providing additional resources for these entities. Further, $20 billion would be provided to help support public transit agencies that have been adversely impacted by the pandemic.

  • National Stockpile. The President-elect’s plan would invest $30 billion into the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund to ensure sufficient supplies and protective gear. It would provide 100 percent federal reimbursement for critical emergency response resources to states, local governments, and Tribes, including deployment of the National Guard. The President-elect also calls for an additional $10 billion investment in expanding domestic manufacturing for pandemic supplies, chiefly through the Defense Production Act.

  • Unemployment and Direct Relief. The President-elect’s plan calls for another round of economic stimulus checks of $1,400 per person, including for adult children claimed as dependents on their parents’ tax returns. On unemployment, the plan seeks to boost the weekly unemployment insurance benefit to $400 per week through September 30, 2021 while also extending assistance for workers that have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits. Workers who have typically not qualified for the benefits — such as ride-share and grocery delivery workers — would be eligible for benefits under President-elect Biden's proposal. Further, the President-elect proposes raising the maximum Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for childless adults to $1,500.

  • Mental Health Emphasizing the need for increased access to mental health and substance use disorder services during the pandemic, President-elect Biden's plan calls for $4 billion to be allocated to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

  • Child Care. The bill establishes a $25 billion emergency child care stabilization fund to help providers, including family child care homes, cover their costs and operate safely. The plan would also increase the child care tax credit to $3,000 per child, and $3,600 for children under the age of 6.

  • Housing. The plan seeks to extend the federal moratorium on evictions until September 30, while also providing $30 billion in rental and critical energy and water assistance for those negatively impacted by the pandemic. Moreover, the plan would provide $5 billion in emergency assistance aimed at helping at-risk individuals secure housing.

  • Small Business Relief. President-elect Biden’s plan calls for $50 billion in new funding for small business relief programs, including $15 billion for “flexible, equitably distributed grants.” The plan also calls for $35 billion in government funds to be leveraged into $175 billion in new small business lending and investment via state, local, tribal, and nonprofit small business financing programs.

  • Workforce Protection. Much like the House Democrats’ HEROES Act, the President-elect’s plan calls on Congress to authorize the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a COVID-19 Protection Standard that covers a broad set of workers. President-elect Biden is also encouraging employers of frontline essential workers to provide back hazard pay.

  • Education. President-elect Biden is calling on Congress to provide $170 billion — supplemented by additional state and local relief resources — for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. This includes $130 billion toward school reopening efforts, $35 billion for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, and $5 billion for governors to use to support education programs and learning needs of students significantly impacted by the pandemic.

  • Food Security. The plan details several key provisions aimed at shoring up food security for needy families, including an extension of the 15 percent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as well as $1 billion for states to cover additional cash assistance via the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Additionally, the President-elect calls on Congress to pass the FEMA Empowering Essential Deliveries (FEED) Act to leverage the restaurant industry to help get food to needy families.

  • Cybersecurity. In response to recent cybersecurity breaches of federal government data systems, the President-elect’s plan calls for a $9 billion investment to launch a new IT and cybersecurity shared services at the Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CISA) and the General Services Administration (GSA). Additional cyber-related funding tranches include: (1) $200 million for additional hiring to support the federal Chief Information Security Officer and U.S. Digital Service; (2) $300 million toward secure ID projects at the Technology Transformation Services in GSA; and (3) $690 million for CISA to bolster cybersecurity across federal civilian networks and support the piloting of new shared security and cloud computing services.