The U.S. Congress passed a $2.3 trillion omnibus spending package Monday that includes $900 billion in new relief from the economic impact of COVID-19 shutdowns.
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of the 6th Congressional District and U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia were among the overwhelming majorities in both houses that approved the measures, which await President Donald Trump’s signature.
The relief bill includes $284 billion in a new round of Paycheck Protection Program loans for small businesses to keep employees on the payroll.
Another $82 billion has been designated to help K-12 schools and universities with reopenings; $25 billion for rental assistance; $22 billion to help states with COVID testing; $20 billion for vaccine development; an extension of unemployment benefits by $300 a week from Dec. 16 until March 14, 2021; and a $600 direct stimulus payment per individual.
Unlike the previous COVID stimulus bill, this one doesn’t include earmarked funding for state and local governments.
McBath, a first-term Democrat from Marietta, voted with the House majority in a 359-53 vote, while Loeffler and Perdue, who are in Jan. 5 runoffs, were part of the Senate’s 92-6 majority.
Critics of the bill complained that the catch-all fiscal year 2021 government spending bill of $1.4 trillion—done to avoid a government shutdown—was added to the COVID spending package.
The COVID relief items took up only a few hundred pages of a 5,593-page bill (you can read through the whole thing here) that lawmakers had only a few hours to absorb before the vote.
The only Georgia lawmaker to vote against the bill was U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, a Republican who represents the 10th Congressional District of eastern and central Georgia.
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