The US Senate on Tuesday approved a new $480 billion coronavirus relief bill that includes additional funds for small businesses and hospitals short of supplies.
This bill follows a $2 trillion stimulus that Congress passed on March 25. This stimulus provided low-interest loans to small businesses along with corporate bailouts and $1,200 to eligible-to-work Americans who filed tax returns in 2018. However, much of the funding provided in this bill has been spent.
The new bill is much smaller but more limited in its scope. $310 billion in disbursed funds will go to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the US government’s loan assistance program for small businesses. This bill was passed after the $350 billion of funding provided in the last stimulus package ran out of available funds within a month, leaving many businesses without the capital necessary to continue operating.
$75 billion of the bill will go directly to hospitals and healthcare providers to purchase ventilators, masks, and lifesaving medicine. $25 billion more will go to expansion of COVID-19 testing.
Several Senators voted against the bill. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said “our only hope of rescuing this great country is to reopen the economy. If you print billions of dollars and give it to people, they are unlikely to spend it until the end of quarantine. […] I rise in opposition to spending $500 billion more. The bailouts have already cost $2 trillion […] we can’t continue on this course.”
“After I sign this Bill,” President Donald Trump tweeted, “we will begin discussions on the next Legislative Initiative with fiscal relief to State/Local Governments for lost revenues from COVID 19, much needed Infrastructure Investments for Bridges, Tunnels, Broadband, Tax Incentives for Restaurants, Entertainment, Sports, and Payroll Tax Cuts to increase Economic Growth.”
The House of Representatives will vote on the bill on Thursday.
For more on COVID-19, see our special coverage