By voice vote on March 27, the House of Representatives passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “Act”), a version of which the Senate passed on a 96-0 vote two days earlier. President Trump promptly signed the Act into law. The Act includes significant amendments to the Senate bill resulting from legislative negotiations that took place since we last analyzed it here. The final version of the Act increases funding for loans to small and large businesses, increases oversight on the Department of the Treasury’s loans and grants to businesses, and adds funding for struggling state, tribal and local governments, individuals and healthcare providers. We summarize key changes here.

When we last wrote, we advised that the CARES Act’s provisions granting extraordinary power to the Secretary of the Treasury to determine those businesses’ eligible for financial relief without legislative oversight was likely to be a significant point of contention during legislative negotiations over approval of the Senate Bill. Our prediction proved correct, with passage of the Bill being delayed for several days through procedural measures. Recent reports have indicated that Secretary Mnuchin has agreed to strict legislative oversight over his authority to designate eligible businesses entitled to receive funding, which has increased in the aggregate from $150 billion to $500 billion in aid for corporations and municipalities. The agreement purportedly also includes hundreds of billions of dollars in funding for hospitals – a significant increase from the Bill’s initial allocation. Read our key takeaways here.

The goal of the trillion-dollar Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) introduced yesterday in the Senate is the quick distribution of cash to individuals, small businesses and critical economic sectors such as the airline industry, providing financial assistance to students, expediting coronavirus testing and easing shortages of medical supplies and personnel. While the bill as drafted has met with resistance from Democratic leaders, we expect a version of this bill to be enacted soon. The CARES Act is 247 pages long and seeks to address many critical problems. We summarize below some key provisions here.