What are some of those steps that this bill takes on those fronts, and are many of them longer-term reaching, or are they just short-term relief during COVID times?ĮDELBERG: You’re absolutely right, that’s gotten a lot of attention, and rightly so. PITA: Anti-poverty organizers are looking at this bill as one of the more significant anti-poverty acts since the New Deal during the Great Depression, and they’re talking about that on the front of child poverty in particular. I think states have really borne a lot of the burden of getting the pandemic under control, distributing the vaccine, trying to make sure that schools can open safely, helping their populations with rent relief and food assistance, so a lot of the money that is quite targeted will help states with the enormous pressures on their finances as they get a lot more money from the federal government for those causes. I also see a lot of the money that’s more targeted also really end up being fiscal relief for states, but in different ways. It is part of the fiscal relief for them as they are undergoing all sorts of pressures on their budget, and those pressures are probably going to be in place for several years. First, what you might have in mind is there’s a big bucket of $350 billion for the states that’s not earmarked for anything. Is that earmarked for any particular purposes, or is that for them to use as they need? How significant is that to individuals within those states?ĮDELBERG: I see the money for states in two very separate ways.
I understand there’s also money slated for the states. There’s a lot of targeted relief, but we know that we’re not great at getting money to all the people who desperately need it, and those $1400 checks will make sure that, broadly, all households under the income thresholds get something, so that if they’re left behind on some other aspects of the bill, they will get some fiscal relief. There’s a lot of targeted money in this bill to people who are behind on their rent, behind on their mortgages, food relief, opening childcare centers. I see that as really being insurance to make sure that we get relief to all the households that need it. That’s definitely one of the headline items and that was subject to a lot of debate. What are some of the other major elements that people should know about?ĮDELBERG: Well, of course, the cash payment of $1400 to households. At $1.9 trillion, there’s a lot of items in here. PITA: Beyond those elements, this was a very broad-reaching bill.
So, for example, gig workers who weren’t eligible for unemployment insurance before the pandemic will continue to be eligible under pandemic unemployment assistance until it expires at the end of August. And they will also maintain all of the expansions to eligibility through that time as well. They’ll maintain those through the end of August. So, where did we end up on those benefits? What will those wind up meaning to people?ĮDELBERG: Where they ended up is, they will maintain the $300-a-week plus-up that unemployed people get in addition to their regular unemployment insurance benefits. Maybe you can talk to us, to start with: the direct cash benefits and federal unemployment insurance supplements were some of the main headline items and source of a lot of debate not only between Republicans and Democrats but within the Democratic party. PITA: Yes, time has flown or also crawled, sadly. Very happy to be here and alarmed that it’s really been a year. Wendy, thanks very much for talking to us today.ĮDELBERG: Thank you. Here to tell us what’s included in this round of economic relief is Wendy Edelberg, a senior fellow in Economic Studies and director of The Hamilton Project here at Brookings. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives is expected to pass the final version of a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, a top priority for President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats. One year ago this week, cities and states across the United States began shutting workplaces and schools, and issuing stay-at-home orders in an effort to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. PITA: You’re listening to The Current, part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Thanks to audio producer Gaston Reboredo, Chris McKenna, Fred Dews, Marie Wilken, and Camilo Ramirez for their support. Listen to Brookings podcasts here, on Apple or on Google podcasts, send email feedback to and follow us at Twitter.
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