Congress Passes Omnibus, COVID-19 Relief

On Dec. 20, the House and Senate passed H.R. 133, The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The bill includes a $900 comprehensive package to provide COVID-19 relief to businesses and individuals, including a second round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for small businesses, extension of the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), extension of unemployment insurance and $600 Economic Impact Payments (EIP) for individuals. The bill does not include funding for state and local governments or liability protection for businesses. Lawmakers have set aside these issues in favor of a bill that includes items that have bipartisan support.

H.R. 133 is the largest assistance package to be considered since passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020.

H.R. 133 also includes a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

The bill is now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.

Click here for the Brownstein tax policy team’s five takeaways from the latest deal, as well as a summary of the tax and economic provisions in the bill. The tax provisions in the bill are largely contained in Division N and Division EE. However, bill summaries are divided by category of relief, rather than summarized by division.