BOISE, Idaho — If you've ever had to scramble to finish a final research paper just before the holiday break in college, then you have some idea of what United States lawmakers are dealing with right now.
Members of Congress spent the entire day Monday reading through a year-end, catchall bill that combines COVID-19 relief and omnibus spending, all laid out in 5,593 pages.
On Monday night, lawmakers in Washington D.C. passed a bill that will provide another round of COVID-19 relief to state governments, small businesses and individuals.
The $1.4 trillion 2021 budget bill contains $900 billion dollars in COVID-19 aid, according to Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho).
"What we have here is about $300 billion net," Risch said. "They say it's $900 billion, but what we're actually doing is taking $500 billion out of the last thing we passed last spring that didn't get spent and taking it and putting it into this bill that we actually repurposed and put it towards where it should go."
That $500 billion from the spring is made up of leftover loans to states and cities that did not take it when the CARES Act was passed, according to The Washington Post.
So what does this mean for Idahoans?
Among other things, assuming the bill passes through the Senate, Americans who make less than $75,000 a year will receive a direct payment of $600, with an additional $600 per dependent.
Qualified businesses can apply for a second round of funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Those collecting unemployment benefits will receive an additional $300 per week through March 14, 2021, half of the $600 benefit that expired last July. The bill also extends the maximum period of state-paid jobless benefits to 50 weeks.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) supported the new COVID-19 relief bill and issued statements on the possibility of it passing on Monday night:
"The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across our nation for many months," Crapo said. "The relief package we passed today may not include a perfect wish list of items for either side of the political spectrum. But it does what I have said needed to happen all along: it takes meaningful, bipartisan and targeted steps toward providing relief for those most negatively impacted by this terrible virus."
"I am relieved that a deal has been reached to help Idaho families and small business during this uncertain time," Simpson said. "This bill builds on the extraordinary success of Operation Warp Speed to help get vaccines to all Americans, provides stimulus checks to individuals and families, and enhances the Paycheck Protection Program to help Idaho's many small businesses. It also completes Congress' appropriations work for Fiscal Year 2021, and it includes many important provisions for Idaho that I have fought for in my work on the Appropriations Committee."
Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) also supported the bill and felt the government has an obligation to help people since it was the government that mandated lockdowns.
He said this bill had a lot of good in it, but it also had a lot of bad in it.
"It was administered poorly I think," Fulcher said. "There is no reason that my staff, for example, should be getting those checks. They never got interrupted with their pay, they never had any kind of downsizing and those are being administered across the board so that was one of the things I didn't like about it."
Watch Idaho's congressional delegation react to the bill passing:
The bill is now heading to President Donald Trump's desk for his approval and signature.
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