Romney pushes for colleagues to pass $908 billion COVID-19 relief bill
KUTV — Sen. Mitt Romney urged Utahns Tuesday to contact their representatives in Congress and his colleague Sen. Mike Lee to encourage them to vote for the $908 billion COVID-19 relief bill up for debate on Capitol Hill.
The Utah senator explained the bi-partisan bill, which he helped create, during a press conference where local business leaders and medical experts spoke about funding and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The massive bill is targeted to help American students, families, businesses, workers, and health care providers.
The proposal, which is subject to change, includes a $300 weekly federal benefit for an extra four months for unemployed individuals and liability protections for businesses, Romney said. It does not include a second round of stimulus checks.
The bill includes $160 billion for state and local governments, $180 billion to boost unemployment insurance, $288 billion in loans for hard-hit businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program 45 billion for airlines, airports, transit, and Amtrak, as well as $82 billion for schools, $25 billion for housing assistance and $26 billion for nutrition assistance.
Here's a breakdown of the proposal:
- $45 billion - transportation
- $16 billion - vaccine distribution, etc.
- $35 billion - healthcare system relief
- $82 billion - education
- $26 billion - agriculture and nutrition programs
- $10 billion - broadband expansion into rural communities
- $10 billion - childcare facilities
It will also extend the time frame in which states can spend the money provided to them through the CARES Act. In October, 2News reported Utah still had $440 million of the $1.25 billion it was given in the Act.
Romney said the bill is making good progress among lawmakers, but it's unknown if it will be passed in total or if only parts will be passed.
After months of division between political leaders, House Speak Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said over the weekend that there was "momentum" in coming to an agreement on the $908 billion bill.
This comes as the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were distributed to patients outside of a trial in the United Kingdom on Tuesday.
The Food and Drug Administration posted its analysis online of the Pfizer-BioNTech shots, saying it strongly protects against the novel coronavirus.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech previously reported the shots appear to be 95% effective at preventing mild to severe COVID-19 disease in a large, ongoing study.
Utah leaders said by July, we should have enough doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed to residents over the age of 18.
For the latest news about COVID-19, click here.