On the Dotted Line: RI likely unaffected by delay in federal pandemic relief

President Donald Trump signed the combined $900 billion pandemic relief bill and $1.4 trillion omnibus funding bill around 8pm on Sunday, December 27, after almost a week of issuing implied threats that he might not do so. The delay already allowed critical unemployment insurance (UI) provisions to lapse the prior day, although the bill provides that the programs would be restored retroactively should such a gap occur, so that recipients will receive the same amount of payments. The two main UI programs at issue extend the time of eligibility beyond that provided by state programs and make gig workers and freelancers eligible when they otherwise would not be.

While some states warned that delay in approving the bill might interrupt the weekly flow of payments to beneficiaries, RI expects to accommodate the extension of benefits with no trouble within a few days margin of safety. In response to our inquiry, Department of Labor and Training press liaison Margaux Fontaine on Wednesday, December 23, told Motif, “Since payments will still go out next week [for the prior week] regardless, we have some time. Extending the date of the programs is a relatively quick fix, so as long as it’s signed by mid to late next week, we wouldn’t expect most claimants to see an interruption.”

UPDATE: Fontaine clarified on Tuesday, December 29, “Under the law, and per US [Department of Labor], the first payable week for the extra $300 is week ending 1/2/21. Payments for that week go out [the] next week.”

The combined bill on pandemic relief and omnibus funding was agreed after seven months of on-again-off-again negotiations by Congress late on the night of Sunday, December 20, as we reported. In addition to extension of UI eligibility periods and supplementing UI payments by $300 weekly above state benefit amounts through March 14, the bill provides for $600 stimulus payments to nearly every American earning less than $75,000 annually, initiates a new round of aid to small business, extends the federal eviction moratorium until January 31, expands the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly still called “food stamps”), and provides funds to state and local governments for support of schools and health care, including the cost of administering the new COVID-19 vaccines. As we reported earlier, the bill includes the “Save Our Stages” provisions advocated by IATSE (the theatrical worker trade labor union) and the National Independent Venue Association, authorizing $15 billion in dedicated funding for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions.

Trump’s approval of the bill ends nearly a week of chaos caused by his surprise four-minute video statement released late on the night of Tuesday, December 22, that we reported at the time – facebook.com/motifri/posts/3585321644880532 – contained numerous inaccuracies and falsehoods, criticizing the inclusion of items unrelated to pandemic relief. “Trump conflates two separate bills, one $900 billion for COVID-19 relief and the other $1.4 trillion ‘omnibus’ funding bill that keeps most aspects of the federal government running, which is why everything from foreign aid to fisheries is included,” we explained.

Trump’s video statement also picked up untrue right-wing media talking points. We wrote, “Some of the claims Trump asserts in this video are false, especially that undocumented immigrants are eligible for stimulus payments, when in fact only persons legally present in the US, either as citizens or permanent residents (Green Card holders), are eligible for the stimulus payments. What is different in this latest bill is that mixed-status households, such as a US citizen married to an undocumented immigrant with a US citizen child, were completely not eligible for the stimulus round months ago, but would be eligible for the stimulus round now, provided that only those in the household with legal status, such as the US citizen spouse and child, are eligible for the payments.”

The main objection Trump raised in the video, that the $600 stimulus payments were too low and should be raised to $2,000, was seen as especially bizarre because Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, representing the White House in negotiations with Congress, had repeatedly fought Democrats trying to increase the amount, and the $600 number was a compromise between $2,000 wanted by the Democratically-controlled House and zero wanted by the Republican-controlled Senate. In a rare session on Thursday, December 24 – Christmas Eve – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a vote on increasing the payments to $2,000, but the short notice required unanimous consent under the rules and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy objected on behalf of the Republican caucus.

Democrats have said they will hold the vote on increasing the stimulus payments to $2,000 on Monday, December 28, when Congress will reconvene after the holiday break in order to consider overriding Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual appropriation of funds for the Department of Defense. Trump objected that the NDAA would allow changing the names of military bases currently bearing the names of Confederate soldiers, as well as Congress refusing his demand to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that provides “safe harbor” immunity for online forums, such as Facebook and Twitter, so they are not subject to paying damages from libel and slander claims arising from unmoderated posts by their users. Trump also claimed the NDAA was not tough enough on China.

RI Sen. Jack Reed, who served with the 82nd Airborne Division as an alumnus of West Point where he later served as a professor, and who is now the ranking minority member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said “President Trump clearly hasn’t read the [NDAA] bill, nor does he understand what’s in it. There are several bipartisan provisions in here that get tougher on China than the Trump Administration has ever been.”

Even if the increase to $2,000 passes the House, it is widely considered dead-on-arrival in the Senate, unlikely even to be called up for a vote.