I am sure you have all seen that Congress has reached a deal on a $900 billion stimulus package. They plan at this point is for them to vote before the current continuing resolution funding the federal government runs out at midnight. If everything goes well, the government should be funded through the end of next fiscal year and this stimulus package will put a band aid on things through the end of March.
The news has outlined some of the direct payments for assistance, unemployment benefits and support for our small businesses.
We are looking at $20 billion for higher education and APLU is working diligently on the formulaic breakdown to give us an idea of what to expect. I will send that to you as soon as it is provided.
There are other things of interest in this bill as well including:
- Providing roughly $20 billion to BARDA for procurement of vaccines and therapeutics, nearly $9 billion to the CDC and states for vaccine distribution and more than $3 billion for the strategic national stockpile. This includes $300 million specifically directed to high risk and underserved areas for distribution, including communities of color.
- The bill provides more than $22 billion, all sent directly to states, for testing, tracing and COVID mitigation programs. Of this total, $2.5 billion will be sent out as grants specifically targeted at needs in underserved areas, including both communities of color and rural communities.
- $4.5 billion in mental health funding, $9 billion in support for health care providers, and more than $1 billion for NIH to research COVID-19. $1 billion in direct funds to the Indian Health Service to carry out these services.
- The bill also includes $13 billion for direct payments, purchases and loans to farmers and ranchers who have suffered losses due to the pandemic. It also includes funds to support the food supply chain through food purchases, donations to food banks, and support for local food systems.
- $10 billion in emergency funds for the child care sector through the CCDBG program. These funds maintain the flexibility given to states through the CARES Act and can be used to provide child care assistance to families, and to help child care providers cover their increased operating costs during the pandemic. This emergency relief will help stabilize the child care market and allows states to expand child care assistance to essential workers and working families who are in great need of child care services.
- 3.2 billion in emergency funds for low- income families to access broadband through an FCC fund. Additionally, creates a $1 billion tribal broadband fund and secured
$250 million dollars in telehealth funding and $65 million to complete the broadband maps in order for the government to effectively disperse funding to the areas that need it most
- $2 billion to small telecommunication providers to rip out Huawei/ZTE equipment to replace it with secure equipment and a new $300 million grant program to fund broadband in rural areas.
- Coronavirus Relief Fund Extension: This bill extends the availability by one year (until Dec. 31, 2021) for funds provided to states and localities by the Coronavirus Relief Fund in the CARES Act.
Again, this is a very top level description of the package.
In addition, the FY 2021 funding package that will fund the federal government will be attached to this bill. This “Omnibus” package includes many of our institution priorities. Very little has been released on the funding portion of the package, but we do know the following as it has been reported back here specific to higher education – the Senate Chairman, Lamar Alexander is retiring and he had some priorities he wanted to see done before the end of his term. Plus he decided to spread a little much needed Christmas cheer in the Senate Hart Building, which you can see here:
- The legislation includes a bipartisan agreement to forgive nearly $1.3 billion in federal loans to historically Black colleges and universities, deliver Pell grants to incarcerated students after a 26-year ban and simplify financial aid forms.
- In addition to reducing the total number of questions on the FAFSA, the deal also language to simplify the formula for calculating who qualifies for Pell grants. The Chairman of the Senate HELP Committee said the changes would make more than 500,000 additional students eligible for Pell grants each year and another 1.7 million additional students would qualify to receive the maximum award.
- The deal would also repeal a 1998 law that restricts federal financial aid for college students who are convicted of a drug crime and House and Senate leaders also agreed to boost the maximum Pell grant award by $150 to $6,495 for the 2021-2022 school year.
- The deal would also extend the amount of time undergraduate students can go to school without accruing interest on their need-based federal student loans.
More to come likely after the bill language has been released and we can look through the language for our FY 2021 funding priorities.
Glynda Becker Fenter
Assistant Vice President for Federal Engagement & Advocacy