A BIPARTISAN AGREEMENT ON THE THIRD STIMULUS PACKAGE
Early Wednesday morning, White House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on a massive financial rescue package designed to curb the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic. This bipartisan legislation totals greater than $2 trillion, making it the largest rescue package in American history. The final text of the bill was released late Wednesday evening. The Senate is expected to vote on the package tonight and send to the House for an anticipated vote tomorrow.
Below is a quick, initial summary of some key points of the legislation. More details will follow in subsequent digests:
What We Know About the Package...
The bill includes $30.75 billion for and Education Stabilization Fund for states, school districts and institutions of higher education for costs related to COVID-19. This is a considerable bump from an earlier draft bill, but a reduction from the House Democrats' demands.
What is in Store for Higher Ed
The measure sets aside at least $14.25 billion specifically for higher education emergency relief for institutions to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus. Colleges and universities would be allocated funds based on their enrollment, heavily weighted towards those with large shares of Pell Grant recipients. Funds may be used to defray expenses for institutions such as lost revenue, technology costs associated with a transition to distance learning and grants to students for food, housing, course materials, technology, health care and child care.
The bill would also:
- Postpone payments on federal student loans until October and give a new tax break to borrowers whose employers help them repay their debt
- Suspend monthly payments on all federally held student loans, without interest, through September 30th
- Include a tax benefit that allows a company to pay up to $5,250 of an employee's student loan payments each year on a tax-free basis
Research by the Numbers
- NIH - $945 million
- National Heart, Blood, Lung Institute - $103.4 million
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - $706 million
- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering - $60 million
- National Library of Medicine - $10 million
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences - $36 million
- Office of the Director - $30 million
- DOD - Defense Health Program (RDT&D) - $415 million to prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19
- NSF - $76 million
- $75 million to support NSF's ongoing RAPID grant response
- $1 million for grant administration
- DOE Office of Science - $99.5 million
- Operations for national lab user facilities - including equipment, technology and personnel - to support research related to COVID-19
- EPA Science & Technology - $2.25 million
- To prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19
- NEH - $75 million
- To support efforts to help local, state and regional communities continue to provide access to cultural organization and institutions of learning
- NASA - $60 million
- To support continuation of mission critical activities
NOAA - $20 million- To support continuation of mission critical activities