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Updated August 12, 2024 Fact checked by Fact checked by Vikki VelasquezVikki Velasquez is a researcher and writer who has managed, coordinated, and directed various community and nonprofit organizations. She has conducted in-depth research on social and economic issues and has also revised and edited educational materials for the Greater Richmond area.
The U.S. Congress passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill called the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) in March 2020 to blunt the economic damage set in motion by the global coronavirus pandemic.
With most forecasters at the time predicting that the U.S. economy was either already in a recession or heading into one, policymakers crafted legislation that dedicated a historic level of government funding to furloughed workers, families with children, small businesses, independent contractors and gig workers, large corporations, the health care system, and more.
President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on March 27, 2020.
At over $2 trillion, the CARES Act stands as the largest financial rescue package in U.S. history. The 2009 Recovery Act was $832 billion, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) contained $900 billion in pandemic relief, and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) comes close at $1.9 trillion.
The law allocated $175 billion to states and localities battling the pandemic and $185 billion more for the health care system.
Eligibility for some of the loans and small business assistance was left to the discretion of the Treasury or Small Business Administration, but they came with some strict conditions, and Congress appointed an inspector general and an oversight board to supervise and oversee their administration.
The CARES Act can be broken into seven major areas, including benefits for individuals, unemployment assistance, small business relief, big and medium-sized business relief, tax breaks and credits, hospital and health care assistance, and state and local government.
The act authorized direct payments to families of $1,200 per adult plus $500 per child for individuals making up to $75,000, heads of households making up to $112,500, and couples filing jointly making up to $150,000.
The CARES Act was the first piece of coronavirus legislation to place a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. The expiration date was extended numerous times. However, on August 26, 2021, the Supreme Court rejected the latest extension requested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The stimulus plan extended both the eligibility and the benefit amounts for unemployment related to the emergency.
Eligibility for unemployment benefits was extended to those who otherwise would not qualify if their loss of work was related to the pandemic. This included contractors and the self-employed, those whose existing benefits had been exhausted, those seeking only part-time employment, and those with insufficient employment history.
However, it specifically excluded people who could continue their jobs working remotely or already were being paid sick leave or other leave benefits.
The plan extended the duration of regular unemployment benefits for affected workers from the norm of 26 weeks to as long as 39 weeks. It also extended payment of benefits to the first week of unemployment where not prohibited by state laws.
In addition, it funded a new Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefit of $600 per week on top of the regular unemployment benefit that continued through the end of July 2020.
However, in late December 2020, the FPUC was modified and extended as part of the Continued Assistance Act. This provided an additional $300 per week in benefits. The funds were available for any weeks of unemployment beginning after Dec. 26, 2020, and ending on or before March 14, 2021. These benefits ended on Sept. 4, 2021.
The CARES Act also established the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program, which allowed workers who had exhausted their unemployment compensation benefits to receive 13 more weeks of benefits, if they were able to work.
The Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) extended benefits to self-employed individuals, freelancers, and independent contractors.
For workers who remained employed but with reduced hours, the stimulus plan funded 100% of state short-term compensation benefits.
The benefits under the PEUC program that expired on Dec. 31, 2020, were extended to March 14, 2021, as a result of the Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act of 2020 (or the Continued Assistance Act). The act was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Trump on Dec. 27, 2020, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2021.
Individuals were able to collect unemployment benefits for an additional 24 weeks (versus the original 13 weeks under the CARES Act).
By Sept. 5, 2021, all pandemic-related unemployment benefits had ended, although some states had stopped them even earlier.
The CARES Act suspended required payments on student loans owned by the U.S. Department of Education, reduced interest rates to 0%, and stopped collections on defaulted loans. This pause on payments and interest was extended numerous times, but came to an end in September 2023 when interest began to accrue again with payments beginning in October 2023.
President Joe Biden announced the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan on June 30, 2023, after the Supreme Court ruled against a far broader plan to forgive federal student loan debt. The SAVE plan reduces minimum payments to affordable levels, based on applicants' income, and reduces the number of years some borrowers must make payments before loans are forgiven.
On July 18, 2024, a federal appeals court blocked the SAVE plan pending the resolution of two court cases involving the plan. The Department of Education moved borrowers enrolled in SAVE into an interest-free forbearance while the litigation is ongoing.
The law appropriated $349 billion to support small businesses' efforts to maintain their payrolls and some overhead expenses through the emergency. The stated goal was to keep workers paid and employed.
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applied to any business, nonprofit organization, veterans organization, or tribal business that had fewer than 500 employees—or, under the Small Business Administration standard, had under 500 employees per physical location for all food service and accommodation businesses.
Eligible businesses could receive a Small Business Interruption Loan up to 2.5 times their average monthly payroll, up to a maximum of $10 million.
The loans could be used to cover payroll, benefits, and salaries, as well as interest payments, rent, and utilities. Fees were waived, and collateral and personal guarantees were not required. Payments were deferred for a minimum of six months up to one year, and there were no prepayment penalties.
The principal of the loan could be forgiven up to the total cost of payroll, mortgage interest payments, rent, utility payments, and any additional wages paid to tipped employees made during the eight-week period after origination. However, under PPP, this amount would be reduced by the proportion of any reduction in the average number of employees during that period.
A total of $10 billion in emergency grants was authorized for small businesses, private nonprofits, sole proprietorships, agricultural co-ops, and employee-owned firms and could be converted into advances on forgivable loans as outlined above.
There was another $17 billion to pay the principal, interest, and fees on existing federally guaranteed small business loans for a period of six months.
Finally, funds were allocated for administration, training, consulting, and education related to these loan programs.
Under the expansion of this existing Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance program (EIDL), small businesses affected by COVID-19 were able to apply for an EIDL of $10,000 that did not have to be repaid.
For EIDL loans, those eligible were able to borrow up to $200,000 without a personal guarantee.
In order to provide liquidity to the hardest-hit businesses and industries, the CARES Act allocated $500 billion for economic stabilization loans and guarantees.
This included $25 billion for passenger airlines, $4 billion for air cargo carriers, and $17 billion for businesses deemed critical to national security.
The remaining $454 billion was allocated toward programs and lending facilities operated by the Federal Reserve to support other businesses, states, and municipalities.
Unlike the Small Business Interruption loans, these Economic Stabilization loans were not forgivable.
For businesses, it created a new Employee Retention Credit (ERC) against employment taxes, which was intended to encourage them to retain and pay their employees during any quarter when business operation was partially or fully suspended due to the coronavirus.
Employer payroll taxes were deferred for 2020. Fifty percent of payroll tax payments for 2020 were due in 2021, with the other 50% due in 2022. Business operating losses for 2020 can be carried back for up to five years.
If taxpayers did not receive their direct stimulus payments of $1,200 per adult and $500 per child, they could claim the amount they were due as a tax credit.
The CARES Act also allowed taxpayers to take an above-the-line deduction from adjusted gross income of up to $300 for charitable contributions and relaxed other limits on charitable contributions.
The plan allowed people to take special disbursements and loans from tax-advantaged retirement funds of up to $100,000 without facing a tax penalty.
It waived the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules for 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and the 10% penalty on early 401(k) withdrawals up to $100,000.
Account-holders would be able to repay the distributions over the next three years and could make extra contributions for this purpose.
These measures applied to anyone directly affected by the disease itself or who faced economic hardship as a result of the pandemic.
The plan dramatically expanded eligibility for unemployment benefits just as new unemployment claims were skyrocketing. Nearly everyone except remote online workers and those already on paid leave were eligible.
The stimulus plan addressed both emergency health care and financing for treatment and prevention of COVID.
The plan boosted payments to health care providers and suppliers by $100 billion through various programs, including Medicare reimbursements, grants, and other direct federal payments.
It also directed $27 billion in spending on tests, vaccine development, and medical treatment devices, including $16 billion in purchases for the Strategic National Stockpile.
The stimulus plan relaxed numerous laws, Medicare payment rules, and drug approval requirements to allow more flexibility to respond to the emergency.
It also introduced a few new rules. It required health insurers to cover tests for the virus as well as treatments and vaccines that were in development. It protected health care providers from liability when they volunteered to fight the pandemic across state lines and increased funding for health care workforce training, education, and modernization programs.
The vast majority of the funding was administered through Federal Reserve emergency lending facilities. Financial institutions, public entities, and businesses of all kinds were eligible.
State and local governments received up to $150 billion in assistance through the new Coronavirus Relief Fund. Of that, $3 billion was reserved for federally administered territories and $8 billion for tribal governments.
Payments to states and local governments were divided proportionally according to population. These were large, open-ended block grants that were directed toward costs associated with controlling the pandemic and mitigating its economic damage.
As can be expected, numerous industries, agencies, and special interest groups lined up for a piece of the funding pie. The CARES Act also included legal changes designed to benefit specific industries or businesses in key congressional districts that might not seem directly connected to the COVID-19 crisis. These included:
The CARES Act was the first of three major pieces of COVID-19 relief legislation. The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) followed the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) came last. The table below compares base funding in several key areas for each law.
| CARES Act vs. CAA vs. ARPA | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Legislation | CARES Act | CAA | ARPA |
| Signed into law | March 27, 2020 President Donald Trump | December 27, 2020 President Donald Trump | March 11, 2021 President Joe Biden |
| KEY COMPONENTS | |||
| Direct payment/EIP | $293 billion ($1,200) | $166 billion ($600) | Over $400 billion ($1,400) |
| Unemployment | $268 billion ($600) | $120 billion ($300) | $206 billion ($300) |
| Small business | $377 billion | $325 billion | $54 billion |
| Community development | $5 billion | $12 billion | $362 billion |
| Transportation | $71 billion | $45 billion | $43.2 billion |
| Vaccine develop/distribute | Part of larger healthcare funding | Part of larger healthcare funding | Part of larger healthcare funding |
| Schools | $31 billion | $82 billion | $122 billion |
| Rent assistance | $12 billion | $25 billion | $21.55 billion |
| Nutrition and agriculture | $25 billion | $11.2 billion | $10.4 billion |
| U.S. Postal Service | $10 billion (loan) | $10 billion (loan forgiveness) | $570 million (paid leave for federal employees) |
| Child care | $5 billion | $10 billion | $39 billion |
| Broadband | Grants to states | $3.2 billion | $25 billion |
| Coronavirus Relief Fund | $150 billion | Extended to December 31, 2021 | |
| Employee Retention Credit | $55 billion | Extended to June 30, 2021 | Extended to December 31, 2021 |
| Lookback for EITC/CTC | Created | Expanded | |
| Total appropriations | $2.2 trillion | $2.3 trillion in total spending; $900 billion of which was for COVID relief | $1.9 trillion |
All three were major federal spending bills enacted consecutively to protect American working people and businesses from the worst fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. They differ in the details and the time periods during which they were effective:
The biggest single expenditure in the $2 trillion CARES Act was the $300 billion sent directly to American taxpayers. The payment was $1,200 for every adult and $500 more for each child in the household. Another $350 billion was paid out in forgivable loans to small businesses to subsidize their payrolls during the disruption of the pandemic.
The House of Representatives passed the CARES Act with a vote of 419 in favor and six against. The Senate approved the CARES Act in a unanimous vote, with 96 in favor and zero against, on March 25, 2020. Then-President Donald Trump signed it into law two days later.
The CARES Act was the first of three huge spending bills that opened the government's coffers to those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The legislation was enacted against the backdrop of dire economic predictions of recession. At over $2 trillion, the CARES Act stands as the largest financial rescue package in U.S. history.
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