House Passes Relief Package to Assist Hospitals, Small Businesses and Increase Testing Capacity

Statement

Today, Congressman Filemon Vela (D-TX) announced the passage of an emergency funding package that will expand relief for small businesses, hospitals, health care workers and provide much-needed funds to increase testing capacity throughout the country. The bill passed the House by a vote of 388 to 5, with one member voting present. The Senate passed the bill earlier this week and the president is expected to sign the bill into law.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is having a lasting impact on Americans lives," said Congressman Vela. "Given the human and economic burden this virus continues to have on our nation, Democrats worked to ensure funds were included to help working Americans, our small business community and our health care workers. This legislation includes funding for hospitals to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers who are on the frontlines of this pandemic. In addition, funds include $25 billion for testing, which is a top priority in order for our country to return to a state of normalcy as soon as safely possible."

The $484 billion relief package includes the following:

Small Businesses - $310 billion in additional funding to the Paycheck Protection Program, with $30 billion reserved for community-based lenders, small banks, and credit unions and an additional $30 billion for medium-sized banks and credit unions. Democrats also secured $60 billion for SBA disaster lending, and the bill also includes strong protections to ensure that our nation's farmers have access to vital assistance.
Hospitals and Health Care Workers - $75 billion to provide resources to the frontlines, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for our health care workforce. The administration has also agreed to key improvements to be made in the next funding package, CARES 2.
Testing - $25 billion for testing, which is the key to reopening the economy and resuming our lives. This funding will allow for the development of a national strategic testing policy and provide funds for the manufacturing, distribution and disbursement of Covid-19 testing to ensure we are have the proper tracing of cases and to allow our local communities to manage this pandemic.

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