WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled an economic relief package in response to the coronavirus pandemic that might ship checks of a
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled an economic relief package in response to the coronavirus pandemic that might ship checks of as much as $1,200 to taxpayers who earn lower than $99,000 a 12 months, loans for small companies and enormous tax cuts for giant firms.
Senators had been on a decent deadline to introduce the measure earlier than what’s prone to turn out to be an prolonged Senate recess as People keep near residence and preserve their distance in efforts to sluggish the unfold of the illness.
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the bulk chief, deliberate to open negotiations on Friday with Senate Democrats and White Home officers in a bid to finalize the package deal and vote on it inside days. The Home, which is at present on recess, would additionally have to approve the invoice to ship it to President Trump. Whereas many lawmakers had been ready to journey on brief discover, congressional leaders had been rethinking their plans after two lawmakers tested positive for the virus and others determined to self-quarantine.
Listed below are 5 key takeaways from the Senate’s plan.
Taxpayers would obtain a verify of as much as $1,200 from the federal government, however decrease earners would get much less.
Particular person taxpayers who made lower than $75,000 in adjusted gross earnings in 2018 would obtain a verify for between $600 and $1,200, with the very best earners getting the utmost cost. Married taxpayers who filed collectively and made lower than $150,000 mixed would obtain between $1,200 and $2,400. The Senate proposal would additionally present an additional $500 for every little one.
Individuals who earned too little to owe earnings tax would obtain $600 so long as that they had at the least $2,500 in qualifying earnings. The checks would section out for individuals incomes $99,000 or extra. The plan is completely different from the one proposed on Thursday by Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, who mentioned the Trump administration wished to ship $2,000 to each American in two installments: one in April and one in Could, if the nation continued to face an financial disaster.
Paid go away could be restricted.
The Senate Republican plan curtails how a lot small companies must pay workers who had been pressured to remain residence due to the virus, revising a paid leave measure enacted simply this week. The Senate plan would cap the quantity an employer has to pay at $200 a day. The measure drew swift condemnation from Democrats, who’ve argued for substantial instant aid for individuals who have needed to miss work due to sickness, to look after a member of the family or to comply with public well being tips meant to cease the unfold of Covid-19.
The tax return deadline could be prolonged.
Taxpayers would have till July 15 to file their earnings tax returns and till Oct. 15 to pay their taxes. And People who withdrew as much as $100,000 from retirement accounts to assist with coronavirus-related points wouldn’t incur the everyday penalties for early disbursements. The proposal would additionally permit the secretary of schooling to defer scholar mortgage funds.
Small companies would get loans, and massive firms would get tax cuts.
Small companies would get bridge loans of as much as $10 million every to offer instant assist for paying workers, rents and mortgages amid the financial downturn brought on by the coronavirus. And enormous firms would get short-term tax cuts, overriding measures within the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a component that Democrats had been fast to criticize.
Airways and different main industries would get greater than $200 billion in loans.
Essential industries hit arduous by the pandemic would get $208 billion in loans, together with $58 billion for the airline sector, to ultimately be repaid. Lawmakers included language to require accountability in how the funds had been used, together with prohibiting raises for executives for 2 years.
Jim Tankersley and Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.