In a clear-eyed message to Congress, the Trump Administration formally announced its opposition to H.R. 6800, Speaker Pelosi’s “CARELESS” Act. The President has worked with Congress on a bipartisan basis to enact legislation of unprecedented size and breadth—with nearly $2.5 trillion in spending to improve public health, supporting small businesses, and help American families. This partisan bill goes the wrong way.

The White House rightly notes that Speaker Pelosi is putting relief last by:

• Hiking taxes on small businesses: Our explainer on the tax provisions of the Pelosi bill shows how bipartisan relief provided to small businesses in the CARES Act would be yanked away from them at the moment they need it most.
• Providing a windfall to millionaires in high-tax blue states: After hiking taxes on small businesses, House Democrats turn to provide tax relief in the form of removing limits on the amount of state and local tax dollars wealthy people can deduct from their federal taxes. That’s right: At the moment they crack down on relief for small businesses, they open the floodgates for the wealthy in blue states.
• Sending relief payments to illegal immigrants: By allowing the use of individuals’ Tax Identification Number (TIN) –in lieu of a Social Security number—to receive a $1,200 relief check, and the bill further requiring only one spouse in a married couple to provide their TIN to receive the funding, it’s clear that there is no way to prevent illegal immigrants from getting checks.
• Allowing taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion services through changes to COBRA—and even the Paycheck Protection Program: By allowing taxpayer dollars to subsidize coverage for employees separated from their employers, Pelosi’s bill upends longstanding bipartisan Hyde Protections that prevent taxpayer dollars from paying for abortion services (we highlight this here). And the Small Business Committee has pointed out that the bill allows the nation’s largest abortion provider to qualify for loans intended for small businesses.

As the President’s own Statement of Administration Policy puts it, “this proposed legislation, however, is more concerned with delivering on longstanding partisan and ideological wishlists than with enhancing the ability of our Nation to deal with the public health and economic challenges we face.”

President Trump opposes Speaker Pelosi’s bill and would veto it if it could ever get through the Senate (it won’t). Sadly, she still plans to waste members’ time on it by forcing a vote, when we can put forward meaningful bipartisan legislation.

Click here to read the Trump Administration’s statement. Our summaries on the tax, health, and worker (paid leave, unemployment insurance) provisions of the bill are on our website.

Want to read more on the fight against Coronavirus? Read our Coronavirus Bulletin here which contains our extensive FAQ about recent federal actions.

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