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The dust is still settling after enactment of the $2 trillion-plus bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, as people and businesses learn how to access benefits provided under the congressional bill #3 to address the crisis, and there is increasing attention on what should be included in an expected bill #4.

(For reference, see the text of the enrolled CARES Act, which is Public Law Number 116-136. EY Alerts on corporate and international implications and more are also available.)

Both top Democrats and economists close to the President have suggested that while the CARES Act was meant to stem immediate losses, the next bill will be a large economic recovery package. "It is important to note that we still have to do more on emergency, we still have to do [more] on mitigation, but our next thrust will be about recovery and how we can create good-paying jobs so that we can take the country into the future in a very strong way," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said last week.

President Trump said of a next bill during a March 29 news conference, during which he also announced that social distancing guidelines were extended to April 30: "I'm prepared to do whatever is necessary to save lives and bring our economy back. Our economy has a chance to be just as good and even better. A lot of the money you read about is coming back. These are loans to great companies that got stopped from doing business."

The President proposed at least one specific idea, saying March 29 he wants to restore the ability for corporations to deduct the full cost of meals and entertainment from their taxes and that he would ask Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia to look into reversing a provision of the 2017 TCJA that limited the deduction, The Hill newspaper reported. "You're going to lose all these restaurants and they're not going to make it back. They have to get going," President Trump said.

On CNN's State of the Union March 29, Speaker Pelosi said the $150 billion aid to states in the CARES Act was "just a down payment" and short of the $200 billion in the House Democratic bill. "Neither amount was enough, because, again, every single day, the need grows. But we have to pass another bill that goes to meeting the need more substantially than we have," the Speaker said. She listed previously stated priorities for a follow-on bill, including personal protective equipment and OSHA rules that protect workers, more on family medical leave, covering testing and doctors' visits, multiemployer pension relief, and CARES Act parity for the District of Columbia.

As the March 28 Washington Post pointed out, liberal groups have suggested they will put up a bigger fight to have priorities included in the congressional bill #4, and that progressive ideas left out of bill #3 include a $200-per-month increase in Social Security payments, $10,000 in federal student debt cancellation, free health care for those sickened by the virus, and funding for a vote-by-mail system for the 2020 general election.

The March 30 Wall Street Journal reported of bill #4, "The ideas being floated include extending last week's package to make the benefits last longer, as well as plugging in likely holes in the hastily assembled bill," including in terms of aid to states. The article cited Stephen Moore, a Heritage Foundation economist and previous Trump adviser, as saying "there's talk of a multi-trillion program," that he is advocating a payroll tax suspension, and that partisan divisions could become more apparent in the next package. "The left is going to want to do infrastructure, welfare payments and food stamps," he said. "Our side will want to do tax cuts and deregulation."

Already there are differences in enthusiasm, with some Republicans urging more of a wait-and-see approach. "I would hope anybody that's talking about a phase four would pause right now. We have just passed three bills," House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said on Fox News March 27, adding that lawmakers should let the money already spent get to work first and, going forward, "be targeted on where we're going to spend money."

For now, the next voting day for the Senate is April 20, but there are provisions to come back earlier if needed. The House is set to hold pro forma sessions but timing of a large-scale return to Washington for lawmakers is unclear.

As a reminder, the global EY Tax COVID-19 Response Tracker is also available and has been updated through March 29.

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