American Rescue Plan Of 2021 Highlights, Mount Vernon-Lee

Press release from Mount Vernon-Lee Chamber Of Commerce:

03/15/2021

ShareTweetReturn to ListingAmerican Rescue Plan of 2021 Highlights 03/15/2021 02:35 PM

The American Rescue Plan of 2021,
the $1.9 trillion stimulus legislation recently passed by Congress, expands
support for small business through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), new
grant programs for restaurants and employer tax credits.

The IRS webpage says the agency is reviewing implementation
plans for the newly enacted legislation
and additional information about a new round of Economic Impact Payments, the expanded
Child Tax Credit, including advance payments of the Child Tax Credit, and other
tax provisions will be made available as soon as possible on IRS.gov.

Some highlights of the
legislation gathered from various sources:

• PPP receives $7.25 billion and allows
  bigger PPP Loans for Sole Proprietors. PPP application process will still close
  March 31, 2021.

• The Pandemic Unemployment
  Assistance (PUA) program, for workers not traditionally eligible for
  unemployment insurance (such as independent contractors and gig workers), was
  set to expire on March 14, 2021. It has now been extended through September 6,
  2021, and the number of eligibility weeks have been increased from 50 weeks to
  79 weeks.

• Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC)
  provides additional weeks of unemployment insurance benefits to individuals who
  have exhausted their state unemployment benefits. PEUC was also set to expire
  on March 14, 2021, but the program has been extended through September 6, 2021.
  Eligibility weeks have been increased from 24 weeks to 53 weeks.

Employer
Tax Credits

Tax
credits offset costs for employers that voluntarily provide Families First
Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) emergency paid sick leave or expanded family
and medical leave to employees. The tax credits are available from April 1,
2021, through September 30, 2021.

State
and Local Aid

American
Rescue Plan includes $350 billion in flexible aid for state and local
governments, $20 billion for tribal governments, and $20 billion to support
public transit. Virginia will receive $9 billion.

Pandemic-Related
Medical Aid

$160
billion for vaccine distribution, an expansion of testing, and support to
reduce critical supply shortages. 100 percent coverage for the administration
of vaccines. Subsidizes continued health coverage (COBRA) for those who lose
their employer-sponsored health insurance through September 30, 2021. It increases
the value of the Premium Tax Credit used on individual health insurance
exchanges to ensure individuals pay no more than 8.5 percent of income for
health insurance coverage.

Education
Relief

$170
billion to support school reopening and funding for post-secondary education
and $25 billion in support of childcare providers.

Rental
Assistance

Renters
and small landlords would receive $30 billion of support. The eviction and
foreclosure moratorium and continued forbearance for federally guaranteed
mortgages would be extended through September 30, 2021.

Expanded
Paid Sick and Family Leave

Paid
sick and family medical leave is now available through September 30, 2021, for
workers who need to quarantine, provide care to family members with COVID-19,
or take care of children when daycare or schools are closed. Expanded leave
would include a maximum paid leave benefit of $1,400 per week for eligible
workers, up to a full wage replacement of up to $73,000 annually.

Nutrition
Assistance

The
15 percent benefit increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) provided in December for the first six months of 2021 would be extended
through September 2021 to reduce food insecurity through the year.

This press release was produced by the Mount Vernon-Lee Chamber Of Commerce. The views expressed are the author's own.