Caring for Americans with Supplemental Help Act of 2020
Floor Speech
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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 9051) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase recovery rebate amounts to $2,000 for individuals, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 9051
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Caring for Americans with Supplemental Help Act of 2020'' or the ``CASH Act of 2020''. SEC. 2. RECOVERY REBATE AMOUNTS INCREASED.
(a) In General.--Section 6428A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2020, is amended by striking ``$600'' each place it appears and inserting ``$2,000'', and by striking ``$1,200'' each place it appears and inserting ``$4,000''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section are contingent upon the enactment of the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2020 and shall apply (if at all) as if included in the enactment of section 272 of such Act. SEC. 3. DEPENDENTS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN DETERMINING CREDIT AND REBATES.
(a) Recovery Rebates.--
(1) In general.--Section 6428(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``qualifying children (within the meaning of section 24(c))'' and inserting ``dependents (as defined in section 152)''.
(2) Conforming amendments.--
(A) Section 6428(f)(2) of such Code is amended by inserting ``and subsection (a)(2) were applied by substituting `qualifying children (within the meaning of section 24(c))' for `dependent (as defined in section 152)' '' before the period at the end.
(B) Section 6428(g) of such Code, as amended by the COVID- related Tax Relief Act of 2020, is amended--
(i) in paragraph (1), by striking ``qualifying child'' each place it appears and inserting ``dependent'',
(ii) in paragraph (2)(C), by inserting ``(determined after the application of subsection (f)(2))'' after ``subsection (a)(2)'', and
(iii) in paragraph (3)(B), by inserting ``or dependent'' after ``child'' both places it appears.
(3) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection are contingent upon the enactment of the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2020 and shall apply (if at all) as if included in the enactment of section 273 of such Act.
(b) Additional 2020 Recovery Rebates.--
(1) In general.--Section 6428A(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2020, is amended by striking ``qualifying children (within the meaning of section 24(c))'' and inserting ``dependents (as defined in section 152)''.
(2) Authority to make advance refunds without regard to modified definition of dependent.--Section 6428A(f) of such Code is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(7) Authority to make advance refunds without regard to modified definition of dependent.--To the extent the Secretary determines appropriate to make or allow the maximum number of advance refunds by the deadline described in paragraph (3)(A)(ii), the Secretary may determine the advance refund amounts under this subsection without regard to the amendments made by paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 3(b) of the CASH Act of 2020.''.
(3) Conforming amendments.--
(A) Section 6428A(f)(2)(B) of such Code is amended by striking ``qualifying child'' and inserting ``dependent''.
(B) Section 6428A(g) of such Code is amended by striking ``qualifying child'' each place it appears and inserting ``dependent''.
(C) Section 6428A(g)(4)(B) of such Code is amended by striking ``such child'' and inserting ``such dependent''.
(4) Effective date.--The amendments made by this subsection are contingent upon the enactment of the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2020 and shall apply (if at all) as if included in the enactment of section 272 of such Act. SEC. 4. BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
(a) Statutory PAYGO Scorecards.--The budgetary effects of this Act shall not be entered on either PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to section 4(d) of the Statutory Pay-As- You-Go Act of 2010.
(b) Senate PAYGO Scorecards.--The budgetary effects of this Act shall not be entered on any PAYGO scorecard maintained for purposes of section 4106 of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress).
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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, we are here today at a moment of extreme hardship for families across the country. Last week, both the House and the Senate passed bipartisan legislation that would provide relief for people who are struggling to make ends meet. That package includes a wide variety of provisions that will allow Americans who are at the end of their ropes to stay in their homes and to put food on the table.
Despite the fact that the Trump administration was part of the negotiations for the legislation and approved of all the measures that it contained, the President unexpectedly decided to delay signing the package into law for several days. This stalling was an act of theater that cost the American people millions of dollars in terms of pandemic- related unemployment assistance that they desperately need.
Fortunately, last night, the President finally signed the bill. At last, workers and families can exhale a bit, knowing that aid is on the way.
The primary reason that the President provided for holding up his signature was the enactment of this important legislation that we are about to undertake in the next 40 minutes.
Democrats agree that families deserve more, and that is why I introduced the CASH Act on Christmas Eve to increase the payments in the relief package to $2,000, the exact amount the President said he wants.
Madam Speaker, I introduced this legislation on Christmas Eve with the following parable in mind. Jacob Marley forewarned that the three ghosts would visit Ebenezer Scrooge to warn him about the path to redemption. He started with Christmas Past, and we might start here with Christmas past, acknowledging that, 3 years ago, one of the largest tax cuts in American history that overwhelmingly came to people at the very top, including a top individual rate cut of 39 percent to 37.5 percent and a corporate rate cut from 36 percent to 21 percent, were part of that endeavor.
In the Christmas present, there are 20 million Americans who are receiving unemployment insurance, more than 350,000 dead, and 19 million people infected with this pandemic.
For Christmas Future, Marley warned Ebenezer Scrooge that there was a way for redemption, and that was through a new generosity and a new kindness. We could emulate that here this afternoon by raising that impact payment from $600 to $2,000. The miracle of this season would remain the triumph of light for those who desperately need our assistance.
Madam Speaker, we could have passed this bill 4 days ago, but our colleagues on the other side went against the President's wishes, and they blocked it. So, here we are today, back again to try to get a bigger check for the American people. I sincerely hope that the House Republicans have had a change of heart and will join us in passing the CASH Act.
Madam Speaker, let's pass this bill and do what is right for our neighbors back home as they simply try to survive each day.
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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee).
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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman.
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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Suozzi), who did a great job on the surprise billing legislation that passed in the COVID Act.
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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, might I remind the gentleman that this is not about creating a path to prosperity. This is about creating a path to liquidity, which subsequently creates a path to demand for people at the lower end of the economic spectrum, 20 million of whom are not working at the moment through no fault of their own.
Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer), an excellent member of the Ways and Means Committee.
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Mr. NEAL. Jackson Lee).
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee for his distinguished leadership.
I thank our Speaker for her persistent leadership.
I thank all of the Democratic Members and Republican Members who understand what this legislation is.
It is a survival cash payment for Americans making under a certain amount, which means they are on the survival pathway.
Maybe they haven't spoken to the constituents of, I believe, probably 90 percent of the Members of this Congress who have said they are on the edge and they are about to go over. They can't pay their rent or buy food. They are in food distribution lines. Before I came here Sunday, I was at a church, and we were giving out food.
I asked during the spring for $3,000. I was willing to go for $600 so that desperate Americans could get enough to survive.
Mr. Speaker, I am supporting this. I ask my friends and colleagues on both sides of the aisle to recognize that, when you are privileged to stand in a place like this where the constitutional Fathers gave us the opportunity to lead this government, stand for the American people.
I support the CASH Act because it is survival for Americans.
Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary, on Homeland Security, and on the Budget, I rise in strong support of the CASH Act, a bill to provide $2,000 in direct payments to individuals.
It was welcomed news that the President signed the COVID-19 relief bill that also includes the Omnibus Appropriations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021.
This bill:
Accelerates vaccine distribution and crushes the coronavirus;
Provides rent, food, unemployment, and direct payment to put money in the Pockets of the American People through: direct payments worth up to $600 per adult or child;
Averts the sudden expiration of Unemployment Insurance benefits for millions and added a $300 per week UI enhancement for Americans out of work;
Delivers key tax benefits for Struggling Families--through changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit that help ensure that families who faced unemployment or reduced wages during the pandemic are able to receive a strong tax credit based on their 2019 income;
Provides strong support for Small Businesses by providing: $284 billion for first and second forgivable PPP loans, $15 billion in dedicated funding for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions, and $20 billion for targeted EIDL Grants which are critical to many smaller businesses on Main Street;
Funds Education, Child Care & Students by providing: $82 billion in funding for colleges and schools, and $10 billion for childcare assistance to help get parents back to work and keep childcare providers open;
Provides Pell Grant expansion to reach 500,000 new recipients, ensuring more than 1.5 million students will now receive the maximum benefit; and
Supports the Global Fight Against COVID--with an additional $3.36 billion for a total of $4 billion for GAVI, the international vaccine alliance, recognizing that we are not truly safe until the whole world is safe from the coronavirus.
I will vote for the CASH Act because it increases direct payments to individuals from a $600 direct payment to $2000, which will help families struggling with the economic impacts of COVID-19.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that as of December 23, 2020, that 18,170,062 cases of COVID-19 resulting in 321,734 deaths had been reported in the United States.
The new year will mark a terrible milestone for the United States-- the last time we saw death like this in our nation was during the 1918 Flu Pandemic, which recorded a total of 675,000 deaths in the United States.
What the costs will be to our nation for the over three-hundred thousand deaths have yet to be fully calculated.
It is a tragedy that too many households who have lost a member to COVID-19 are struggling to accept these deaths, but it is also the friends, co-workers, business owners, professionals, students, teachers, wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, and grandparents who also are feeling these losses because someone that mattered to them is no longer here.
Each of these lives could have had dozens of connections with other people who were not able to be with them during their final moments on this earth who are lost to us because we too often only consider the immediate household.
My deepest concerns are for the medical professionals who are seeing more death than soldiers who have fought on battlefields in defense of our nation since World War II.
Death every day for medical professionals who pride themselves on robbing death by keeping the very ill or critically injured alive are themselves wounded by each loss in ways that we cannot understand.
Too many of our medical professionals are losing that battle with death as they attempt to treat extremely ill COVID-19 patients because they do not have access to: sufficient amounts of essential therapies, or the special trained staff to administer interventions that could save lives.
Medical people also have not had the universal support of political leaders who are willing to promote wearing of face coverings, social distancing, and handwashing to limit the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) the infection that causes COVID-19.
There is a hidden cost to the fool-hearty disregard for the seriousness of this moment in American history.
My concerns are for the economic impact and the long-term damage to our nation's health care delivery system.
Today we will focus on the economic injuries caused by COVID-19, and I look forward to working with my colleagues on addressing the systemic long-term issues caused by unequal access to the health care.
Small businesses and working men and women of this great nation are the life blood of the economy, and who pay the lion share of federal taxes, now find themselves, through no fault of their own, in need of assistance in the form of direct payments that will provide a bridge to them and to the economy for the next few weeks so that the next Administration will have time to assess and craft the relief package needed to get the nation over the last hurdles of the pandemic's economic impact.
Since the 1980s, corporate income tax revenues have become a smaller share of overall tax revenues paid to the federal government.
In 2017, President Trump signed into law P.L. 115-97, which substantially and permanently changed the U.S. federal tax system for the wealthy and large corporations.
Most of the changes to the individual income tax system in P.L. 115- 97 for those less well off are temporary and scheduled to expire at the end of 2025, after which the rates for these individuals will return to what it was for 2017.
In contrast, many of the tax cuts made in P.L. 115-97 affecting corporations and wealthy individuals are permanent, in other words they will keep the drastic cut in corporate taxes.
The facts are that working individuals and small businesses support the U.S. government's federal tax system.
The largest source of revenue to the federal government is the individual income tax, which in 2019, generated $1.7 trillion.
The second-largest source of federal revenue is payroll taxes, which is collected by employers and is often paid quarterly.
In FY2019, payroll taxes generated $1.2 trillion in federal revenue or thirty-six percent of the total revenue for the federal government.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that federal income tax revenues in FY2020 will be $1.5 trillion, and payroll tax revenue will be $1.3 trillion.
In FY2020, it is projected that about 47 percent of federal revenue will be generated through the individual income tax.
In FY2019, corporate tax receipts were only $230 billion, or nearly 7 percent of federal revenue, and in FY2020, corporate tax receipts are expected to be $151 billion, less than 5 percent of federal revenue.
Receipts from other sources are also projected to increase in FY2020 to $298 billion, from $271 billion in FY2019, which will result in 9 percent of total revenue up from 8 percent the previous year.
Obligated social insurance federal program payments for Social Security and Medicare are paid through payroll taxes and are expected to generate an additional estimated $1.3 trillion, or 35 percent of revenue in FY2020.
The $2,000 in payments to individuals will be used to pay bills, rent, utilities, car notes, or purchase needed items like winter coats, and other essentials, which will translate into income for small businesses.
All of this spending will generate local, state, and federal tax revenue as it fuels consumption and the provision of services that are still available through the economy.
Overtime basic Keynesian economics has proven itself to be a reliable economic model and has repeatedly proven that money turning over in the economy makes more money.
There is a reason why it is important to stimulate the economy during a deadly unchecked pandemic, the chief of which is its depression of the national and global economies resulting in a downturn creating recession conditions.
We know the end of the COVID-19 pandemic's vice on the economy is insight with the delivery of a vaccine, but we are not there yet--we must help the American people, and most importantly our small businesses, endure until we reach seventy percent herd immunity.
The use of direct payments is the Keynesian solution that is winning the day across the globe for countries able to support their economies in this way.
Payments to individuals allow them and not the government to make spending decisions on their household's essential life-sustaining needs such as paying for housing, utility bills, food, and clothing which allows money they spend to circulate through the economy like blood throughout the body.
People in this nation can and should be trusted to make decisions regarding how they spend the funds provided by the stimulus because they know their needs.
Consumers will spend money with small businesses who should have the freedom to pay their workers and suppliers, workers and suppliers will be free to buy goods from other businesses, and those businesses will pay their workers and suppliers, and so on.
In this way, the $2,000 in spending by each individual is actually spent more than once as the effect of each dollar spent creates more spending.
This is called the expenditure multiplier effect: an initial increase in spending, cycles repeatedly through the economy, and has a larger impact than the initial $2,000 amount spent.
The economy needs to be inoculated against recession, which is what the $2,000 in individual payments will do, and it will need a booster in about thirty to sixty days.
If the overwhelming majority of those who will receive the $2,000 were planning to put it in a bank account and not spend it, then this bill would not be needed because the basic needs of the people would be satisfied, but we know this is not the case.
No one is benefiting from the COVID-19 economy.
The U.S. poverty rate has grown at a historic rate over the past five months, with 7.8 million Americans falling into poverty after the expanded $600 a week in unemployment assistance expired at the end of July.
This represents the greatest increase since the government began tracking poverty sixty years ago.
In the city of Houston, nine key service sectors accounted for seventy percent of all jobs lost which totaled 1,343,600.
Houston workers lost jobs in the following areas:
Healthcare 391,000; retail 303,600; food service 267,000; finance 166,000; private education 63,400; arts and entertainment 37,400; accommodations 28,700; air transportation 20,200; and other services 115,800.
In addition to these positions, jobs were also lost in other areas, the largest of which was construction which shut down 30,700 jobs; professional and business services followed, with 25,300 jobs lost, although 13,900 were in temporary and provisional jobs in employment services; upstream oil lost 12,300 in March/April; and non-oil manufacturing lost 7,700 jobs.
Americans out of work due to COVID-19 have generated 86 million jobless claims, with new claims being filed in recent weeks topping 800,000.
Millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic have fallen thousands of dollars behind on rent and utility bills, a clear warning sign that people are running out of money for basic needs.
If this is not enough evidence of what is happening, look at the miles of vehicles lined up outside of food distribution centers for assistance; we have all seen this occurring in each of our states.
Moody's Analytics warned in November 2020 that 9 million renters said they were behind on rent, according to a Census Bureau survey.
The Bureau of the Census reports that twenty-one percent of all renters are behind on their rent, of which twenty-nine percent of Black families and seventeen percent of Hispanic households are behind on theirs.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's analysis of persons who were employed prior to the pandemic reports that 1.3 million of these households are now an average of $5,400 in debt on rent and utilities, after those people had lost jobs and their family's income dropped.
The new COVID-19 stimulus bill, already agreed to by both the House and Senate and signed by President Trump, restores unemployment assistance, but cuts that assistance from $600 a week to $300 a week without consideration for the facts on the ground for the millions of Americans who remain out of work due to COVID-19 public health policy, and have been without sufficient income since August 1, 2020.
In fact, the decision about a $600 a week in addition to unemployment benefits is a good idea for those in labor markets with high costs of living like New York and Washington, D.C., but may have far outstripped the going rate for labor and the actual cost of living where the spending power of $600 exceeded market costs for living expenses.
The Congress may need to revisit models for future programs of this type and provide a formula that is based on the actual spending power of funds provided so the ability of meeting the cost-of-living needs can be more in line with the intent of the funds provided.
This may mean that, depending on where someone lived at the time a disaster of this nature was declared, the amount they would qualify for receiving may be different depending on the spending power of a dollar where they live.
Today, we have twenty million Americans who are receiving some kind of unemployment aid, and about 12 million of the unemployed stopped receiving their benefits.
The nation is on the cusp of a recession that is in danger of becoming a double-dip event that would plummet the economy into a precarious economic state that will take much more than a $2,000 payment to each individual to overcome.
For all these reasons, I urge all Members to join me in voting for the CASH Act to increase individual payments from $600 to $2,000.
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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, let me remind the Members of this Chamber why we are here today.
The CARES Act passed this House with, I think, five dissenters in the entire Chamber. That was months and months ago. People exhausted the $1,200 that we allocated, based upon our tax system. And even the difficulty we had in trying to find adequate identification for those in America, as joint filers, making under $24,000 a year, single filers making under $12,000 a year.
Who can live on $12,000 a year? That is $1,000 a month.
People have exhausted that benefit. They have tried earnestly and seriously to overcome these obstacles that were created for them, not because of anything they did. We are not here because of malfeasance, speculation that derailed Wall Street in 2008, or corruption. We are here because of an international pandemic, and members of the American family at the lower end of the economic spectrum are hurting.
When we sought advice on putting together the CARES Act, the Speaker and myself, in particular, in those very earnest days with Secretary Mnuchin, sought the advice of the best economists--former Treasury Secretaries, members of the Federal Reserve Board, people who do this every single day--and they all said you need to act with speed and determination, speed to get that money into the hands of the people who will actually spend it.
And that is precisely what we did. We got it to people at the lower end of the economic spectrum.
As we proceed now to the new year, these people need another infusion of cash. I am going to go back to this point that I think is something that we need to remember. Three years ago, this House, over the objection of myself and many others, passed a tax cut that clearly benefited the people at the very top of the economic spectrum, the top 1 percent, in particular--dividends, buybacks, a top cut in the corporate rate from 36 percent to 21 percent, and the top rate on the individual side from 39 percent to 37 percent.
And we can't find it in our hearts in this holiday season, again, based upon the Charles Dickens' parable of ``A Christmas Carol,'' to provide $2,000 worth of assistance to our brothers and sisters at the bottom end of economic income? This Chamber is better than that.
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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I am glad the ranking member reminded us of what we were able to accomplish together in the CARES Act, and I think that is what we are asking here again this evening.
Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker of the House.
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Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself the balance of my time.
I acknowledge the good efforts of Ranking Member Brady on the energy front in the tax package, as well. It is a series of compromised measures. He did a terrific job, I think it is fair to say, on surprise billing, and not to mention USMCA. Those were very substantial accomplishments that the Ways and Means Committee led on in the 116th Congress.
Mr. Brady, as he was closing, mentioned that this measure he did not want to see treated as stimulus, and he is right; this is not about stimulus.
This is about stability.
This is about building a bridge for those people who are really hurting as we turn the page on this year.
This is about those who are wondering how they are going to make the next rental payment, sustenance for the American family, how they might repair that automobile that sits in the garage idle because they couldn't afford it.
That is what this is really about this evening.
I started with Charles Dickens and ``A Christmas Carol'' and the lessons of Jacob Marley, but let me conclude with a very simple description in ``The Epic of America.''
When asked what it was that set America apart from the rest of the world, it was suggested it was a habit of the heart, a kindness and a decency and a goodness. And let me close the debate on that basis and urge passage of the CASH Act and $2,000 for the American people.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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