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What’s in the COVID-19 relief bill?


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Renewal of the Paycheck Protection Program for small-business loans.

Enhanced food aid benefits for families.

Funding for schools to reopen.

Restaurant relief.

Funding for transit and airports.



Expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Funding for vaccine distribution.

Expansion of subsidies under the Affordable Care Act for health insurance.




The Senate is tied 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, and Vice President Kamala Harris is available to break ties. But Democrats do not have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, meaning they would need more than 60 votes to thwart any Republican effort to block the legislation.

Instead, Democrats are using a process called budget reconciliation that allows them to skip major procedural roadblocks.

Reconciliation allows Democrats to pass the legislation with a simple majority. But the process is subject to certain rules that could make it more difficult to include some Democratic priorities, such as a $15 minimum wage increase.

More: $15 minimum wage? Another round of checks? Resistance to key pieces could derail Biden’s COVID-19 relief plan

Both parties have used budget reconciliation before. Republicans tried to use it to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, but it failed when three Republican senators voted with all Democrats to reject the repeal.

Republicans later succeeded, however, in passing major tax code reform through reconciliation.

What are the major hurdles and disagreements?

Republican senators oppose many of the provisions in the legislation, such as the billions in aid for state and local governments. In this round of negotiations, as in the last round, Republicans have derided the aid as a bailout for Democratic-controlled localities mired in financial problems.

A group of Republican senators introduced a smaller proposal totaling about $618 billion, but Democrats forged ahead on their $1.9 trillion plan despite Republicans’ objections.


More: $15 minimum wage unlikely to be in COVID relief bill, Biden says

Intraparty disputes have emerged among Democrats over the inclusion of a federal minimum wage increase. Moderate Democrats such as Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have said they oppose including the $15 minimum wage in the package.

Under a provision known as the Byrd Rule, a senator can raise objections to “extraneous” provisions in legislation being passed under reconciliation, and if the objection is ruled in order, then the provision will be stripped from the bill. Provisions are considered “extraneous” if they do not have a substantial effect on the federal budget.

Proponents of the minimum wage increase such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have argued that the wage increase could survive scrutiny under the Byrd Rule. He pointed to a recent study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that found an increase in the federal minimum wage would increase the budget deficit by driving up the price for goods and services used by the federal government. But if the provision remains in the final Senate legislation, it is unclear if Democrats like Sinema and Manchin would support it, leaving its future in jeopardy

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID-19 relief bill: Here’s what we know on when you can expect aid


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