Bill includes free testing, paid leave, food assistance, and unemployment insurance

On March 14, 2020, the House passed H.R. 6201, the "Families First Coronavirus Response Act" by a vote of 363-40 after a chaotic day of negotiations between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the Trump administration (see attached bill text, section-by-section, and fact sheet). The package would require insurers to fully cover coronavirus diagnostics and related services, provide affected individuals with paid sick and family leave and create tax credits for affected employers, expand food and nutrition services, allow for emergency state unemployment insurance grants, and increase Medicaid funding to states, among other things.

Speaker Pelosi announced an agreement with the Trump administration on March 13, telling lawmakers "we are proud to have reached an agreement with the administration to resolve outstanding challenges," just hours after President Trump blasted the bill and accused Democrats of "not doing what's right for the country." President Trump later tweeted his support and added, "I encourage all Republicans and Democrats to come together and VOTE YES!" House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also called the agreement "a really good sign that shows bipartisanship" and said he believes it "will get through" after key changes to emergency leave provisions sought by Republicans were included. The Senate is expected to consider the bill on Monday.

Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been engaged in robust negotiations over the past few days, with the last remaining issues centering around the business tax credit for providing paid sick and emergency family leave for workers impacted by the coronavirus. The legislation includes two weeks of emergency paid sick leave for employees, as well as 12 weeks of paid emergency family and medical leave throughout the coronavirus crisis, which employers will be partially reimbursed for through tax credits for employers with fewer than 500 employees. At the request of Republicans, the paid sick leave provision will expire at the end of the year, small businesses with fewer than 50 employees can be exempted from the paid emergency family and medical leave requirement, and the tax credit provisions were expanded to aid self-employed individuals.

Other priority items requested by the Trump administration, such as a payroll tax cut, currently have little support from Capitol Hill but threatened to derail the negotiations in the final hours. Democrats have said it will be debated as part of future coronavirus crisis-related legislation, along with other priorities sought by Congressional Republicans and the White House including targeted tax relief for the affected industries.

Highlights of the House-passed bill include:

• Food and nutrition: The bill provides $500m additional support for the WIC program; $400m for the Commodity Assistance Program; and $100m for eligible school children when schools are closed. It would also make $250m available for home and other nutrition services for the aging and disabled and waive statutory requirements for several food programs to allow for emergency provisions and added safety measures, including waiving federal work requirements.
• Funding for free testing: The bill provides $82m for COVID-19 related diagnostics and related items and services for TRICARE; $642m for HIS; and $60m for the VA. It also provides $1b to pay claims of providers for reimbursement of such health services.
• Free testing requirements: Group health plans and health insurance issuers offering group or individual health insurance coverage, along with Medicare Advantage plans, TRICARE, and the VA could not impost cost-sharing or prior authorization requirements for diagnostic laboratory tests for detection of SARS-COV-2 or diagnosis of COVID-19 or related items or services. Coverage and waving of cost-sharing would also be required for these items and services under Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, IHS, and the civil service.
• Increase in Medicaid funding: The bill provides a temporary 6.2% increase in the Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) if states meet certain requirements for coverage of COVID-19. It would also increase Medicaid allotments for the territories for FY2020 and FY2021, and provides a state option to cover detection of the virus for uninsured individuals with 100% FMAP for these purposes.
• Emergency family and medical leave: An emergency family and medical leave program would be created in response to the coronavirus. Private-sector employers with fewer than 500 workers and government entities would have to provide as many as 12 weeks of job-protected leave to employees at least two-thirds pay due to a recommendation or order by a public official or health care provider to care for a family member with coronavirus, or to care for a child whose school or place of care is closed more than five days due to a public emergency. The first 14 days could be unpaid, although a worker could choose to use other accrued leave. The Labor Department is authorized to issue regulations to exclude certain health care providers and exempt small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
• Emergency paid sick leave: Private-sector employers with fewer than 500 workers and government entities would have to provide paid sick leave of 80 hours for full-time employees and average hours for a two-week period for part-time employees due to coronavirus diagnosis, symptoms, or preventative care, or due to a recommendation or order by a public official or health care provider to care for a family member with coronavirus, or to care for a child whose school or place of care is closed due to a public emergency. Workers would be paid the greater of their normal wage or local minimum wage or two-thirds pay for providing care to a family member. The provision would expire at the end of the year.
• Tax credits for paid sick and family and medical leave: The bill provides payroll credit for required paid sick ($511 per day limit for employees caring for themselves and $200 per day limit to care for a family member or if a child's school is closed) and family leave ($200 per day limit or an aggregate of $10,000) for wages through the end of 2020. The language was expanded to include credits for self-employed individuals ($511 per day limit for employees caring for themselves, $200 sick leave to care for a family member and the lesser of $200 or average daily self-employment income for family leave).
• Unemployment insurance: The bill provides as much as $1 billion for emergency transfers to states in fiscal 2020 to process and pay unemployment benefits. Individuals in states with rising unemployment can qualify for an additional 13 weeks (20 in some states) for unemployment benefits.
• Mask liability: The bill would make personal respiratory protective devices a covered countermeasure under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, which allows HHS to provide liability protections for certain emergency response products.
• Waives PAYGO: The bill would waive statutory PAYGO requirements.

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ATTACHMENTS

Families First Coronavirus Response Act Fact Sheet

H.R. 6201

H.R. 6201 section-by-section