The House Ways & Means Committee February 11 approved 25-18 along party lines a package of provisions that comprise about half of President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan and would provide direct payments, a child tax credit expansion in the form of direct payments, EITC and Child Care tax credit enhancements, an international tax change, COBRA subsidies and ACA tax credit enhancements, and relief for pension plans. The Ways and Means provisions represent the Committee's piece of an FY 2021 budget reconciliation bill. Other committees have considered or are considering their portions, and the combined package could be enacted within the next several weeks with solely Democratic support.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters February 11, "We hope to finish our markups in committee this week, and then send it to the Budget Committee next week for them to work their will on it, then to the Rules Committee, and then to the floor, and we hope to have this all done by the end of February, certainly, on the president's desk in time to offset the March 14th deadline, where some unemployment benefits will expire." The Senate must take up the House-passed bill and, if they include further amendments, the two chambers would need to work out differences in order to produce a final bill.

Subtitles under the bill were approved by the Committee in party-line votes, and amendments similarly defeated along party lines. The substitute amendments (SA) on the subtitles addressing economic security and skilled nursing facilities were approved 24-18. The SAs on the subtitles on the continuation of job-based coverage (COBRA) and pensions were approved 25-18.

TAX

During consideration of the tax subtitle, Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE) said the provision to repeal section 864(f), creating an election worldwide interest expense allocation regime, has nothing to do with COVID. The repeal of the worldwide interest allocation rules, which were originally enacted in 2004 and were delayed several times, before being scheduled to take effect on January 1 of this year, would raise $22 billion over 10 years.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) said it is troubling that the bill does nothing to roll back the CARES Act excess business loss and NOL carryback provisions as he and others have called for, but noted other beneficial provisions and said he would support the measure for "what it does, not for what it doesn't."

In the context of Rep. Tom Rice's (R-SC) amendment to facilitate domestic production of medicine through tax incentives, Chairman Neal said there are issues with domestic production and supply chains. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) said US-based pharmaceutical companies conduct manufacturing overseas, pay taxes elsewhere, and do business in the US with some of the highest prices in the world. He said there is an opportunity to look at that situation and doesn't think the industry needs additional tax incentives.

Amendments considered included:

HEALTH

During consideration of SNF and COBRA subtitles, Democrats strongly supported provisions to expand access to COBRA continuation coverage through 85% premium assistance and refundable payroll tax credits for employers, in addition to enhanced subsidies on the ACA exchanges for 2021 and 2022 that would remove the 400% subsidy "cliff" and cap premiums at 8.5% of income. In supporting the provisions, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) noted that almost three million lost their employer-based coverage during the first months of the pandemic and said there is a "direct link" between health insurance coverage and COVID-19 deaths according to an Oxford study. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) also expressed support but noted that he wanted to see the COBRA subsidies at 100%. Republicans such as Ron Estes (R-KS) called COBRA subsidies a "further expansion of government run health care," and an amendment by Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) supported by many Republicans on the committee to add the Hyde Amendment, aiming to ensure taxpayer dollars are not used for the funding of abortion coverage, was defeated on party lines.

Democrats also applauded the bill's support for nursing homes, which provides $200 million for infection control in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and $250 million to establish strike teams to respond to SNF COVID-19 outbreaks. Rep. Doggett said, "the bill's modest provisions are the very least we can do," criticizing the Trump administration's lack of action. Rep. Blumenauer and others noted that 85% of nursing homes were deficient in at least one measure of infection control even before the pandemic, according to the GAO. While several Republicans expressed their concern regarding the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes, many said the funding was unnecessary, with Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) calling it "overkill" and saying states must now do their part. An amendment by Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) to make funds conditional on governs signing an attestation that nursing home data has been reported accurately, calling out Governor Cuomo for his nursing home policies in New York, failed on party lines.

Amendments considered included:

RETIREMENT

Amendments considered included:

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