WASHINGTON, DC- As the first work period of the 117th Congress comes to a close, the Ways and Means Committee reflects on the monumental work the Committee contributed to the American Rescue Plan and beyond.
“The Ways and Means Committee has had an incredible start to this Congress," said Chairman Neal. “From overseeing almost $1 trillion of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan to taking major leaps forward on our commitment to racial equity to the almost weekly hearings we’ve already held, we have wasted no time. We head into this committee work period with the momentum and will to continue taking big, bold action for the American people. They gave us the majority because they trusted us to get things done. We started last Congress with a clear priority to expand opportunity throughout our jurisdiction, and this progress wouldn’t have been possible if we hadn’t laid the groundwork on creating a fairer tax code, making health care more affordable, and securing retirement savings in the 116th. The moment has met us, and we look forward to continuing to lead on Congress’s most consequential work."
Key Highlights from this work period:
* Chairman Neal and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Bill Pascrell, Jr. demanded the IRS delay the filing season, and the IRS heeded their calls
* Chairman Neal appointed Reps. Sewell, Gomez, and Horsford to lead the Committee’s Racial Equity Initiative
* Ways and Means Democrats released framework on achieving health and economic equity
** Report: “Something Must Change: Inequities in U.S. Policy and Society"
** Policy Pillars and Priorities: “A Bold Vision for a Legislative Path Toward Health and Economic Equity"
* Committee Hearings:
** Oversight Subcommittee Hearing on Free Tax Preparation Services During the Pandemic
** Health Subcommittee Hearing on The Path Forward on COVID-19 Immunizations
** Trade Subcommittee Hearing on Reauthorizing Trade Adjustment Assistance: Opportunities for Equitable Access and Modernization
** Worker and Family Support Subcommittee Hearing on Health Profession Opportunity Grants; Past Successes and Future Uses
** Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee Hearing on Tax Tools to Help Local Governments
** Oversight Subcommittee Hearing with the IRS Commissioner on the 2021 Filing Season
Key American Rescue Plan Highlights:
Health:
* Enhanced the premium tax credits, saving people between $800 to $7,800 a year in out-of-pocket costs, depending on their age and income.
** Los Angeles Times: Republicans call the COVID-19 relief bill a ‘liberal wish list.’ Democrats are owning that
*** “Another provision would give more middle-class Americans help with the cost of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act - the first expansion of the 2010 healthcare law, widely known as Obamacare, after years of Republican-led repeal efforts. The expansion ‘checks a big item off the Democrats’ agenda for reinvigorating the Affordable Care Act,’ said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation."
** Associated Press: COVID bill to deliver big health insurance savings for many
*** “Taken together, the components of the coronavirus bill represent the biggest expansion of federal help for health insurance since the Obama-era Affordable Care Act more than 10 years ago."
* Provided an 100% subsidy for those who are COBRA-eligible and will help the 2 to 3 million people who have lost job-based coverage.
** Wall Street Journal: Covid-19 Stimulus Bill Contains Biggest Change to Obamacare Since 2010
*** “The subsidies for Cobra-an insurance-continuation program that employers are, in most circumstances, required to offer workers who have been terminated-have been cheered by insurers and some labor groups who say it will ensure people retain coverage during a pandemic that has led to a surge in joblessness claims."
* Provided marketplace tax credit subsidies and cost sharing reductions for anyone receiving some form of unemployment insurance, since not all workers are eligible for COBRA.
** Associated Press: COVID bill to deliver big health insurance savings for many
*** “Another inducement is aimed at people who have lost jobs. Those who collect unemployment this year, if even for one week, would qualify for the most generous ACA tax credits as well as its biggest reductions in copays and deductibles."
* Created a new $8.5 billion fund to pay Medicare and Medicaid rural providers for health care related expenses and lost revenue due to COVID-19.
** KFF: Medicaid Provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act
*** “Finally, the new law provides $8.5 billion in FY 2021 for provider relief fund payments to rural Medicaid, CHIP, and Medicare providers. These funds are available to compensate for health care related expenses and lost revenues attributable to the pandemic for rural providers who diagnose, test, or care for individuals with possible or actual COVID-19."
* Expanded funding for the Elder Justice Act to prevent and address abuse, neglect, and exploitation of older adults, which has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.
** Next Avenue: Why The American Rescue Plan Is One of the Most Age-Friendly Laws in Years
*** “Another important and historic provision is the $276 million in the law for elder justice funding. This will do many things including: letting Adult Protective Services agencies step up their work in aiding victims of elder abuse and preventing abuse; protecting vulnerable older adults from falling victim to COVID-19 vaccine-related scams and stopping the rash of hate crimes directed against older Asian Americans."
Economic Security:
* Delivered on promise of $2,000 checks, supplementing December’s down payment with another $1,400 per person.
** CBS News: 100 million stimulus checks start arriving today. Here's how to track yours.
*** “The Internal Revenue Service said on Wednesday that it had delivered 90 million payments valued at $242 billion in its first batch of checks, while another 150,000 checks worth about $442 million were sent via mail. On Monday, IRS and Treasury officials said about 100 million checks would be distributed within 10 days."
* Enhanced and expanded refundable tax credits.
** The Child Tax Credit-increases the credit to $3,000 per child ($3,600 per child under 6), makes it fully refundable and advanceable.
*** NPR: What The $300 A Month Child Benefit Could Mean For A Family On The Edge
**** “Pullups for a toddler who is potty training. A bicycle. Clothes that aren't hand-me-downs. A home with heat and working plumbing. A trip to the zoo. Four in 10 children in the U.S. live in households struggling to afford basic expenses, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities… This benefit, combined with other enhanced benefits in the package, could cut child poverty in the U.S. by half, according to an analysis by Columbia University."
*** 19th News: The relief bill set to be signed by Biden could take a huge - if temporary - bite out of child poverty
**** “Estimates have found that the expansion will help families of color most. Poverty among Black children is estimated to decrease from 17.8 percent to 9.7 percent, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities’ analysis. For Latinx children, the child poverty rate could drop from 21.7 percent to 13.4 percent. For White children, it is expected to fall from 7.9 percent to 4.6 percent."
** The Earned Income Tax Credit-nearly triples the maximum credit for workers without qualifying children, assuring these workers are no longer taxed into poverty, and broadens eligibility to better reflect today’s workforce.
*** Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: American Rescue Plan Act Includes Critical Expansions of Child Tax Credit and EITC
**** “The American Rescue Plan Act expansions will help many hard hit by the current crisis. Many in essential jobs have faced a higher risk of infection and death due to their jobs, while many others lost their jobs or saw their incomes fall due to pandemic-related closures or reduced hours… The American Rescue Plan Act expands the EITC for over 17 million adults not raising children at home who work hard at important, but low-paid, jobs."
** The Child and Dependent Care Credit is significantly more generous, fully refundable, and applicable for the rising costs of child care. Now, a family making up to $125,000 who spends $16,000 on child care can receive up to an $8,000 credit.
*** Washington Post: Third round of coronavirus relief offers significant cash to parents
**** “The increase in the amount of the child and dependent care payments is significant, and making the credit refundable once again benefits those taxpayers who do not have a tax liability," Olson said. “Refundability puts money in their hands."
* Extended economic security measures to the territories
** Permanently extends the Federal EITC and the Child Tax Credit to the territories, assuring residents can rely on the same crucial economic support provided in the 50 states.
** Made territories eligible for guaranteed annual child care funding through the Child Care Entitlement to the States (CCES) for the first time.
* Prevented more than 10 million workers from losing lifeline unemployment benefits starting March 14. Covers the unemployment cliff by extending all of the critically important temporary unemployment insurance provisions from FFCRA and CARES, including an added $300 per week, through September 6, 2021.
** Kiplinger-American Workers Get Enhanced Unemployment Benefits as Biden Signs Stimulus Package
*** “Millions of anxious, unemployed Americans are breathing a collective sigh of relief knowing that they will continue to receive - without interruption - supplemental weekly federal unemployment benefits into early September after President Joe Biden signed into law on Thursday the $1.9 trillion stimulus package known as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021."
* Exempts first $10,200, per individual, in supplemental unemployment benefits from taxation for taxpayers with income under $150,000, for 2020.
** Bloomberg-IRS to Automatically Process Refunds on Jobless-Benefit Payments
*** “The Internal Revenue Service will automatically process refunds for individuals who paid taxes on their unemployment benefits before Congress passed a law making those payments tax-free, Commissioner Chuck Rettig said. The automatic refund will mean that many recipients of unemployment benefits who have already filed their returns for 2020 won’t have to take extra steps to reclaim the taxes they paid but no longer owe -- on as much as $10,200 of jobless benefits."
* Shored up the financial security of American workers and retirees, many of whom are currently fighting on the frontlines of the COVID crisis, by providing vital assistance through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to stabilize failing pension plans. The COVID economic downturn has exacerbated the already urgent need for intervention, and according to one nonpartisan estimate, an additional 180 plans could become insolvent due to COVID without Congressional intervention.
** Huffington Post: Democrats’ Relief Bill Shores Up A Million People’s Pensions. That’s A Huge Deal.
*** “In fact, the legislation includes so many notable, big-ticket provisions that it’s gaining almost no attention for another notable feature: rescuing the pensions of more than 1 million workers and retirees."
** Philadelphia Inquirer: Congress bails out troubled pension plans for teamsters, Acme, carpenters, electricians, and others in Philly area
*** “The influx of money should, in particular, help protect pensions of 100,000 supermarket workers and retirees in the region affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers union, according to Wendell Young 4th, president of its Local 1776. ‘This is good news,’ said Young, whose union represents workers at Acme and other markets."
* Provided over $1 billion in assistance through the TANF program and the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV) to better support struggling families with children and help them pay for life’s basic necessities.
* Permanently increased funding for the Child Care Entitlement to the States (CCES) to $3.55 billion to support working parents and makes a significant down payment on guaranteed child care. The CCES provides guaranteed annual child care funding to states and has been frozen since 2006 at $2.917 billion and lost about 20% of its value to inflation.
** Biz Journal: Proposed Covid relief measures could slow moms' exit from the workforce
*** “Support for families with young children and early childhood programs is included in proposed Coronavirus relief legislation currently making its way through Congress even as women are dropping out of the workforce in record numbers to care for their children."
