The Congressional Budget Office on Thursday reported that the CARES Act, the coronavirus relief bill enacted on March 27, is expected to cost $1.8 trillion between 2020-2030.
The estimate is lower than the $2.2 trillion price tag that has been previously used in reports on the bill because it does not include the $450 billion given to the Federal Reserve for emergency loans that are expected to be paid back. In other words, the bill provides roughly $2.2 trillion in relief, but will only cost the federal government $1.8 trillion.
The score came out weeks after the bill was passed because it moved through Congress so quickly.
The most expensive provision in the bill is the program providing forgivable loans to small businesses to pay their employees, and other grants provided by the Small Business Administration, which will drain federal coffers by $377 billion.
Direct payments to citizens are the second most expensive and are projected to cost $239 billion. The bill provides U.S. residents with incomes below $75,000 ($150,000 for married couples) a $1,200 payment ($2,400 for couples) as long as they have a work-eligible Social Security number and are not a dependent on another’s tax return. An added $500 is available for each child under the age of 17.
Originally, a person had to file a tax return to get the recovery payment, but on April 1, the IRS reversed course and no longer requires the filing of a tax return to receive the recovery payment.
Increased unemployment insurance was the third most expensive measure, costing $268 billion. The bill significantly expands eligibility for unemployment benefits, increases the weekly benefit amount by $600, and extends the number of weeks of benefit eligibility.
Over 21 million people have lost their job in the last four weeks, and over 11 million workers now receive unemployment benefits, which is a record high, according to the Labor Department. The CBO used higher projections to accommodate the expected increase in jobless workers when calculating its cost estimate, but record unemployment will likely require more money from the federal government to people coping with job loss.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, has said she wants to beef up the unemployment portion of the CARES Act in the next bill that Congress passes to address the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus.
