Government Resources: Federal Level |
|||||
Jump to: NPMA continues to monitor the situation in the US and Canada to provide updates on any legislation or regulations that could affect our industry. If you have any questions on federal activity, please contact Ashley Amidon, NPMA's VP of Public Policy. United States
COVID Legislative Update: Funding Bill Heads to President Trump While a significant amount of time and attention has been (rightly) paid to the COVID package put together in just a few days, the package that passed the House and the Senate last night and now heads to the President’s desk is more than just COVID. The COVID portion (see NPMA’s breakdown here) is approximately $900 billion out of the roughly $2.4 trillion package. The rest comprises funding for the federal government, known as an omnibus because it includes appropriations bills for all areas of the federal government. This omnibus allocates money to more departments than can be covered here, but below are some highlights that may be of interest to the industry. Overall Priorities: The bill includes $740.5 billion in defense spending and $664.5 billion for domestic programs. Small Business Administration: The SBA received $778.9 million in funding, an increase of $39.9 million above the President’s budget request. Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies bill: This included $730 million for rural broadband. Environmental Protection Agency: The bill provides a total of $9.24 billion in for EPA – $180 million above the 2020 enacted level and $2.53 billion above the President’s budget request. Public Health: The bill includes $7.9 billion for CDC, an increase of $125 million above the FY 2020 enacted level. Taxes: The bill includes a change to the Employee Retention & Rehiring Credit; the credit is increased from 50% to 70%. The cap has also been changed from $10,000 per year to $10,000 per quarter. The bill also allows full expensing for business meals (reported in the media as the “3 martini lunch tax credit.”) Other provisions of interest
What’s Next? Congress passed a 7 day funding continuing resolution (CR) Monday to ensure it has time to get to the President. Both parties are keen to ensure that the government doesn’t lurch from extension to extension so wanted this done, and the Democrats have the additional impetus of wanting to give the Biden administration some breathing room early in the year to focus on other priorities besides funding the government. Trump has not issued any veto threats for the bill, so it is expected he will sign and this (along with the COVID portion sent last night) will become law shortly.
|
NPMA Special Alerts
Other Resources
|