CARES Act
Latest action. Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 116-604.
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or the CARES Act
This bill addresses economic impacts of, and otherwise responds to, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak.
The bill authorizes emergency loans to distressed businesses, including air carriers, and suspends certain aviation excise taxes.
With respect to small businesses, the bill
establishes, and provides funding for, forgivable bridge loans; and
provides additional funding for grants and technical assistance.
The bill also provides funding for $1,200 tax rebates to individuals, with additional $500 payments per qualifying child. The rebate begins phasing out when incomes exceed $75,000 (or $150,000 for joint filers).
The bill establishes limits on requirements for employers to provide paid leave.
With respect to taxes, the bill
establishes special rules for certain tax-favored withdrawals from retirement plans;
delays due dates for employer payroll taxes and estimated tax payments for corporations; and
revises other provisions, including those related to losses, charitable deductions, and business interest.
With respect to health care, the bill
provides additional funding for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19;
limits liability for volunteer health care professionals;
prioritizes Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of certain drugs;
allows emergency use of certain diagnostic tests that are not approved by the FDA;
expands health-insurance coverage for diagnostic testing and requires coverage for preventative services and vaccines;
revises other provisions, including those regarding the medical supply chain, the national stockpile, the health care workforce, the Healthy Start program, telehealth services, nutrition services, Medicare, and Medicaid.
With respect to education, the bill
temporarily suspends payments for federal student loans; and
otherwise revises provisions related to campus-based aid, supplemental educational-opportunity grants, federal work-study, subsidized loans, Pell grants, and foreign institutions.
The bill also authorizes the Department of the Treasury to temporarily guarantee money-market funds.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 19, 2020. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 3, 2020: Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 116-604.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced it on March 19, 2020, and 6 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 6 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 19, 2020, 2366 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2290 days ago, on June 3, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers