Despite his previous requests that Congress amend the Omnibus Spending and COVID-19 Relief Bill to increase stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000, President Trump signed the bill on Sunday night with no changes, after many features of the CARES Act law expired on Christmas Day and averting a government shutdown beginning Monday evening.
As previously reported, there is no direct state and local relief in this package, but the funding in the relief package includes:
- $25 billion for rental assistance,
- $325 billion in small business aid ($284 billion of which is another round of modified PPP loans, along with $20 billion in Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance Program funding and $15 billion to support closed performance and entertainment venues),
- $45 billion for transportation, including $14 billion in additional transit support, $10B in additional surface transportation block grant funding that can be used directly by communities above 200,000 and across the state, as well as an additional $2 billion for primary and general aviation airports,
- $54.3 billion for public K-12 schools, $10 billion for childcare (funding the Child Care & Development Block Grant and Head Start),
- $13 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
- $7 billion for broadband ($3.2 billion of which is dedicated to a low-income broadband emergency subsidy for households, and another $300 million for rural broadband), and
- $4.25 billion to provide increased mental health and substance abuse services and support, including $1.65 billion for the Substance Abuse and Prevention Treatment Block Grant.
The deadline to utilize existing CARES funding will be extended by a year from December 2020 to December 2021 and an extension of unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week.
Contact: Paul Penna, Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, ext.110