Wyden, Merkley outline items in COVID-19 relief, year-end funding bills
(Update: Adding Merkley, Wyden statements on provisions in relief, year-end-funding bills, expanded Employee Retention Tax Credit)
'Whether or not you can feed your family should not depend on Mitch McConnell'
WASHINGTON (KTVZ) -- Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released the following statement late Sunday on the unemployment insurance benefits provisions in the COVID relief package:
“Congress is poised to avert financial catastrophe for millions of families, but let’s be clear, this is not the bill I would have written. Help for those who are jobless through no fault of their own is too small because Mitch McConnell insisted on breaks for his powerful friends that are too big.
“Mitch McConnell started at zero on a weekly boost to unemployment benefits, and Democrats secured $300. While $300 is better than zero, it’s not the retroactive $600 weekly boost I pushed for. Mitch McConnell started at a four-week extension of the additional weeks of benefits and program for gig workers and no additional eligibility for workers experiencing long-term joblessness, and Democrats secured a 11-week extension of both programs and eligibility for workers experiencing long-term joblessness.
“Democrats also secured an additional $100 weekly boost for workers with multiple jobs whose income through traditional unemployment insurance is artificially low because it doesn’t count their self-employment income. Lastly, Democrats secured a provision that allows states to exempt workers from having to repay funds paid out by mistake. Jobless workers have received bills for thousands of dollars through no fault of their own.
“This whole process reiterates the importance of Mitch McConnell not being able to sabotage additional economic relief as majority leader next year. Mitch McConnell is imposing unnecessary hardship on millions of Americans this winter, and he could do even worse once President-elect Biden has been inaugurated. He’s already setting the table for economic sabotage by insisting on a short phase-out of unemployment benefits that removes the hard deadlines that pressure Congress to act.
“While the vaccine is being administered, it will take months to widely distribute. The hardest-hit service industries are not going to come back right away, and continued relief, especially for workers experiencing long-term joblessness, is going to be critical. Whether or not you can feed your family should not depend on Mitch McConnell.”
Wyden negotiated the $600 weekly boost in the CARES Act.
Wyden, also praised the broadband provisions in the COVID relief package, which include his Emergency Broadband Connections Act, providing $3.2 billion to keep working families connected to the internet. It provides a $50 a month emergency broadband benefit for anyone laid off or furloughed during the pandemic:
“Broadband connections are essential for Americans seeking to get new jobs, and to access school, health care and other government services. Ensuring working families can stay online will pay massive dividends for kids' education, helping people find jobs and jump starting the economic recovery next year,” he said.
The provision is also modeled on the Emergency Broadband Connections Act by Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas. Wyden also applauded the inclusion of $1 billion in grants for Tribal broadband programs and $300 million for broadband infrastructure grants.
Merkley Announces Deal on Long-Overdue Coronavirus Relief Bill
The senator noted that it falls far short of Americans’ need, vows to continue pushing for additional relief
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley today announced a long-overdue deal for a coronavirus relief bill, which will provide Americans with desperately needed resources as they struggle through the third, deadliest wave of the global pandemic. Merkley also noted that at $900 billion, the relief falls far short of actual need, and is just a shadow of the comprehensive relief bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed in May.
“This deal is certainly better than nothing at all, given the great need across our nation,” Merkley said. “But let’s be clear: This is a stopgap measure, and much more is needed to get American families and businesses back on their feet, and the economy back in gear.
“After spending $2 trillion in 2017 for tax cuts benefiting the richest Americans, Republicans are now shorting hard-working Americans and small businesses in desperate need. These negotiations should have been treated with urgency. I’m going to continue pushing to make sure the federal government does better, working quickly and with compassion to make sure families have the resources they need to get through this crisis, and then to thrive. The key is to rebuild the economy from families and Main Street up, not Wall Street down. We’ll have a lot more work to do once President Biden is in the White House.”
The bill includes an additional $300 for enhanced federal jobless benefits through the spring; $600 per person of one-time stimulus payments for qualifying families; vital food and rental assistance for families; additional relief to support small businesses, schools and other organizations; funding to distribute the coronavirus vaccines; and extended the deadline for the Coronavirus Relief Fund. After an impasse in negotiations around the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending authority, the bill also includes compromise language that keeps intact the Fed’s tools to respond to emergencies.
Wyden: COVID Relief Bill Contains Multiple Wins for Oregon Families and Small Business
Senator cites gains in top priorities he pressed for in relief package to help Oregonians with broadband, improved access to capital for women and minority-owned businesses
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said tonght that the COVID relief bill contains significant Oregon wins for top priorities he fought to include for families and small business -- broadband assistance, help for renters, improved access to capital for women and minority-owned businesses, and more.
Those gains, he said, come in addition to the relief package’s provisions Wyden negotiated on unemployment insurance for Oregonians who are out of work through no fault of their own, health policy and tax incentives made permanent for craft beverage producers.
“Oregon families and small businesses face a holiday season like few others in American history more than nine months into this public health crisis and its devastating economic impact,” said Wyden, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee. “I’m glad this package will provide relief on multiple fronts statewide and will keep pressing in the new year to get Oregon communities all the help that’s needed to weather this crisis.”
Wyden highlighted these following additional provisions in the package:
- Based on Wyden’s Emergency Broadband Connections Act, $3.2 billion will be provided to keep working families connected to the internet. It provides $50 a month for broadband access to anyone laid off or furloughed during the pandemic – critical assistance for Americans needing broadband connections to get new jobs, and to have access to school, health care and other government services.
- Establishment of the first-ever emergency federal rental assistance program to be distributed by state and local governments. These funds will be targeted to families in Oregon and nationwide affected by COVID and struggling to make the rent and may have past due rent compounding on itself. It also includes an extension of the existing CDC eviction moratorium through January 31, 2021.
- Dedicated Paycheck Protection Program set-asides for very small businesses and lending through community-based lenders like Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs); $9 billion in emergency U.S. Treasury capital investments in CDFIs and MDIs to support lending in low-income and underserved communities, including persistent poverty counties, that may be disproportionately hurt by the economic effects of the COVID–19 pandemic.
- Expansion of the Employee Retention Tax Credit, and ensuring congressional intent is followed and small businesses are able to deduct expenses covered by the Paycheck Protection Program.
WYDEN HAILS HEALTH POLICY IMPROVEMENTS IN YEAREND LEGISLATION
Wyden-Led Reforms to Mental Health via Telemedicine for Seniors in Medicare Is Key Step Towards Making Mental Health Care a Right for All
Other Policies to Lower Costs, Expand Access and Improve Care for Many Americans Also Included
Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today celebrated the inclusion of a key policy to improve access to mental health care via telemedicine in end of year legislation set to become law. Wyden also highlighted a number of other policies in the package that he fought to include.
“For too long, mental health care has gotten short shrift – that changes today,” Wyden said. “Mental health care should be a right for all Americans, and these reforms will begin to make that a reality. The twin crises of a pandemic and economic downturn have made it all the more important that Americans can get the mental health care they need, even if they can’t see their doctor in person.”
The policy would make mental health services available through telemedicine for all Medicare beneficiaries and allow the services to be provided to them in their own homes. Earlier this year, Wyden introduced a bill that made similar reforms to increase access to mental health care.
Policies that Wyden also fought to include in the package would:
· Extend and expand the Independence at Home demonstration that allows frail seniors to get more care at home.
· Restore Medicaid coverage to COFA migrants who have been excluded from the program for more than two decades. COFA migrants are individuals who come to the United States from the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau under an agreement between the nations.
· Reduce cost-sharing for certain procedures and close coverage gaps in Medicare.
· Provide Medicare beneficiaries with greater transparency regarding prescription drug costs and improve access to drug coverage for low-income beneficiaries.
· Support development of the physician workforce, including in rural areas, through an historic investment in Medicare-funded graduate medical education.
“This legislation includes many important and long-sought improvements to our health care system that will help those who need it most,” Wyden said. “These measures help ensure Congress can focus on combatting the public health and economic crisis right away next year, but much work remains to be done, including work to improve maternal health.”
WYDEN ANNOUNCES EXPANDED EMPLOYEE RETENTION TAX CREDIT TO KEEP WORKERS ON THE JOB, HELP SMALL BUSINESSES SURVIVE
Washington, D.C. — Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today announced that his proposal to expand the employee retention tax credit to keep workers on the job and help struggling small businesses survive is included in the end-of-year tax package.
“This economic crisis has been an extinction level event for small businesses. More than 100,000 small businesses have already been lost, and without additional support, many more will be permanently shuttered. Oregon is a small business state, and I know how desperately small business owners need additional relief,” Senator Wyden said. “My proposal to expand the employee retention credit will ensure help is accessible to those small businesses struggling to survive. Importantly, it also clarifies that small businesses that received PPP funding may also use the employee retention credit to cover other wages. Ensuring businesses can access relief from both programs is critical.”
A summary of Wyden’s proposal follows:
· Increases the credit rate from 50 percent to 70 percent of qualified wages;
· Expands eligibility for the credit by reducing the required year-over-year gross receipts decline from 50 percent to 20 percent and provides a safe harbor allowing employers to use prior quarter gross receipts to determine eligibility;
· Increases the limit on per-employee creditable wages from $10,000 for the year to $10,000 for each quarter;
· Increases the 100-employee delineation for determining the relevant qualified wage base to employers with 500 or fewer employees;
· Allows certain public instrumentalities to claim the credit;
· Removes the 30-day wage limitation, allowing employers to, for example, claim the credit for bonus pay to essential workers;
· Allows businesses with 500 or less employees to advance the credit at any point during the quarter based on wages paid in the same quarter in a previous year;
· Provides rules to allow new employers who were not in existence for all or part of 2019 to be able to claim the credit; and
· Provides for a small business public awareness campaign regarding availability of the credit to be conducted by the Secretary of the Treasury in coordination with the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
Retroactive to the effective date included in section 2301 of the CARES Act, the proposal:
· Clarifies the determination of gross receipts for certain tax exempt organizations;
· Clarifies that group health plan expenses can be considered qualified wages even when no other wages are paid to the employee, consistent with IRS guidance; and
· Provides that employers who receive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans may still qualify for the ERTC with respect to wages that are not paid for with forgiven PPP proceeds.
