Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08) announced today that her VACCINES Act and a bill to protect salmon were included in the government funding and COVID-19 relief package that was signed into law by the President on Sunday.
“I am proud to have had eight bills signed into law during my first term in office, including two bills this week,” said Rep. Schrier. “Vaccines were one of the greatest medical accomplishments of the 20th century and remain one of our greatest public health tools to prevent devastating diseases. My VACCINES Act is more important than ever. As we roll out the COVID-19 vaccines, we need to address misinformation about immunizations and increase confidence in the vaccines in order to stop this virus.”
In addition to the VACCINES Act (Vaccine Awareness Campaign to Champion Immunization Nationally and Enhance Safety Act), Rep. Schrier had a second bill get signed into law with the government funding package. HR 7657, introduced with Rep. Rick Larsen, will ensure projects benefiting salmon and steelhead receive equal consideration under a federal law.
The package also included provisions to help families and small businesses struggling to weather the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These provisions will:
- Provide up to $600 stimulus checks for individuals earning up to $75k and phasing out at $87k. Married filers with incomes up to $150k would receive $1,200, which phases out at incomes of $174k. Individuals with children will receive $600 per child.
- Increase unemployment benefits by an additional $300 per week through March 2021, including for the self-employed, independent contractors, and individuals who have exhausted their state benefits
- Support small businesses with $284 billion for a second round of forgivable PPP loans for businesses with more than a 25% drop in revenue
- Ensure businesses can still deduct expenses on their taxes if paid for using PPP and EIDL funds
- Simplify PPP loan forgiveness application to one page for PPP loans under $150k
- Expand Employee Retention Tax Credit from max $10k/employee to $40k/employee
Additionally, the package increased funding to agriculture and nutrition programs. These include:
- $1.5 billion that can be used to carry out provisions similar to Rep Schrier’s Farmers Feeding Families Act to purchase and distribute agriculture products to individuals in need
- $13 billion in increased SNAP and child nutrition benefits
- Additional Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments
- $100 million in additional funding to support specialty crop farmers
The above is a press release from Congresswoman Kim Schrier. The Auburn Examiner has not independently verified its contents and encourages our readers to personally verify any information they find may be overly biased or questionable. The publication of this press release does not indicate an endorsement of its contents.
The original publication of this article included a photo incorrectly labeled as Soos Creek Hatchery. The photo has been removed.
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