COVID relief finally on way, $600 checks could go out next week

WASHINGTON — After months of head-butting and backbiting, Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday to pass a $900 billion stimulus package with unemployment aid, help for small businesses and direct checks to individuals.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking on MSNBC before the vote, said the $600 checks could be delivered to people next week, a statement that signaled President Donald Trump’s support for the stimulus package, which has eluded Congress since it passed the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March.

Lawmakers in Nevada and other states praised portions of the bill aimed at helping communities weather the continuing devastation caused by the virus.

“It’s a first step,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a floor speech before the vote. “It’s a first step, and we will need to do more, more to get more virus assistance to crush the virus, but also more money to buy vaccines.”

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said aid tucked into the legislation will go far to help the state.

“Las Vegas is hurting badly, and some help is better than none at all,” Titus said. “I will work with the incoming Biden administration to build upon this down payment with additional relief that fully meets the needs of Southern Nevadans.”

The House voted 327-85 to pass the legislation, which includes $300 a week in supplemental unemployment insurance, $284 billion in popular Paycheck Protection Program loans for small businesses and $20 billion in housing assistance.

Nevada House members Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford, all Democrats, and Republican Mark Amodei, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, voted for the bill.

The Senate then passed the legislation, 92-6. Nevada’s two Democratic senators, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, voted for the relief package.

Cortez Masto and Rosen spent the past week arguing for measures in the legislation to help Nevada with various programs for energy, nutrition and small-business assistance.

Also in the bill is money to expand broadband in rural areas in need of access to telehealth and educational programs, money to open schools and funding to buy and distribute vaccines to fight COVID-19, which has killed more than 2,700 people in Nevada. Rosen said $1 billion is earmarked for Native American tribes to expand broadband.

Summer stalemate

Republicans dropped their insistence on corporate liability protections, and Democrats abandoned their nearly $1 trillion request for money for states and cities.

Those requests had left the House and the Senate at a stalemate for much of the summer and into the fall as the pandemic continued to ravage communities and a spike in infections and fatalities prompted local governments to implement closures and restrictions on public gatherings.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the “left-wing wish list” blocked action on earlier attempts this year to funnel money to families.

Republicans also were granted a limit on the Federal Reserve’s lending authority, which they said Democrats want to use to distribute to cities and states for unspecified expenditures.

Pelosi said the GOP demands were “anti-worker” and accused Republicans of ignoring the needs of those who lost jobs and lacked funds or food for their families while trying to protect corporate interests from lawsuits because of the pandemic.

Titus said it “shouldn’t have taken so long” for McConnell to get on board with the bill. She, Cortez Masto and other Nevada lawmakers said they would work immediately in the new 117th Congress with incoming President Joe Biden to craft additional relief legislation.

Help for Nevadans

With an economy dependent on hospitality and entertainment, Nevada and its tourism-heavy cities such as Las Vegas and Reno have been stung severely by closures and restrictions on casinos, restaurants and bars. Nevada had the highest unemployment rate in the country in April, at 30.1 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The jobless rated dropped to 10.1 percent in November, above the national average of 6.7 percent.

Dominique McNally, 54, of Henderson, said the relief bill comes as he has nearly exhausted his unemployment benefits.

“This is going to help me and my family very much,” he said.

McNally worked in the convention industry before he was furloughed from Absolute Exhibits in mid-March.

Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation and an unemployment expert, said the stimulus package averts Saturday’s cutoff, when most federal unemployment programs would’ve ended for more than 12 million U.S. workers.

“It gives workers in Nevada the assurance that there’s not an immediate cutoff of their benefits,” Stettner said.

The $300 weekly supplement to jobless pay will make “a huge difference,” he added.

The pandemic also has cost communities revenue for transportation and other essential services. The bill includes funds for mass transit, Amtrak, health care and vaccine purchases and distribution.

Nevada Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, D-Las Vegas, said the federal help was overdue and is “one step in what we hope will be a more coordinated response by a new Congress and a new White House administration.”

“Nevadans are bearing the brunt of this crisis and have already cut over 30 percent of our state’s budget due to unprecedented lost revenue,” he said.

Some Nevada Republicans in the Legislature supported the GOP move to block direct funding for cities and states in the coronavirus relief bill.

State Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, R-Reno, said Congress “addressed the most important needs first, which are the people, and we can deal with government down the road.”

“Right now, my budget’s funded through June 30, so I don’t have to worry about state expenditures until really July 1,” Kieckhefer said, referring to the beginning of the state’s next fiscal year.

But even Republicans in Washington were resigned to the need for more relief next year, and Democrats were hopeful for bipartisan support to push for another relief bill.

Lee and Amodei were members of a moderate group of lawmakers from both parties who pushed leaders to negotiate a compromise bill to address issues despite partisan differences over programs.

“Let’s be clear, though,” Lee said. “This is not a victory lap moment for Congress. It’s a wake-up call. This cannot be the last COVID-19 relief package we pass.”

She added that “$300 per week in unemployment relief and $600 direct assistance for working families is not enough.”

The $900 billion relief package was attached to a $1.4 trillion spending bill to keep federal agencies funded until Sept. 30.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writers Bill Dentzer and Jonathan Ng contributed to this report.