Pelosi's $2.5 trillion virus plan offers aid to performing arts, clean energy, public broadcasting

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi has released a $2.5 trillion coronavirus economic-stimulus plan that includes green energy perks and nearly doubles the projected cost in the existing Senate bill.

The Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act would provide individuals with cash payments of $1,500, $3,000 for couples and $1,500 for each child. According to the bill, households with 2020 income "over $150,000 for a joint filer, $112,500 for a head of household filer, and $75,000 for a single filer will be required to pay back part or all of the assistance payment over three years." 

The bill seeks to help small businesses stay "afloat" by providing $100 billion in small business economic injury grants that "can demonstrate losses due to the outbreak." It includes $184 billion in "low-interest economic injury disaster loans to help small businesses that have suffered financial losses as a result of the coronavirus outbreak," according to a copy of the roughly 1,400-page bill.

The plan also "authorizes $300 billion in guaranteed, forgivable loans to cover short-term payroll costs" for small businesses.

The legislation, released on Monday evening, contains $300 million in “stabilization funding to support public telecommunication entities.”

Other provisions not directly related to coronavirus include requiring “air carries receiving assistance to fully offset their carbon emissions starting 2025.” The bill also would require the carriers to "reduce their own carbon emissions by 25 percent by 2035 and 50 percent by 2050” and submit “continuous audits and reports to ensure air carriers are meeting their targets.”

"I think we had a good package," North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer told Fox News on Tuesday morning about the Senate bill that senators worked over the weekend to try to pass.

He also called Pelosi's bill, which is nearly double the cost of the Senate's projected $1.8 trillion measure, a "wish list."

The bill would also require the National Academies to “conduct a study on climate change mitigation efforts within the civil aviation and aerospace industries.”

The legislation also contains voter registration provisions. It would amend the “Help America Vote Act of 2002 to ensure that all eligible individuals can register to vote on the same day that they vote.”

The legislation would also amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 “to prohibit states from requiring voter registration applicants to provide more than the last 4 digits of their social security numbers.” These changes would take effect in the November 3, 2020 general election and remain in place “for each succeeding federal election.”

The full text of the legislation is available here.