HB 23-05: Emergency Economic Stimulus Act of 2020 (Passed)

[thumb21]

A BILL
To rescue the Atlasian economy

Be it enacted in both houses of Congress assembled

Section 1. Title
1. This legislation may be cited as the Emergency Economic Stimulus Act of 2020.
Section 2. Temporary universal income
1. Every Atlasian adult citizen at 18 years of age or above, regardless of income or employment status, shall receive $3,000 on the first day of each month until October 1, 2020.
2. Every applicable household shall receive $1,500 per child on the first day of each month until October 1, 2020.
3. From October 1, 2020, the universal income shall decrease by 25% on the first day of each month until it is eliminated.
4. A congressional vote shall begin 14 days before October 1, 2020 in both houses of Congress for Congress to decide whether or not to extend the universal income.
a) The vote shall be a simple 'Aye' or 'Nay' on the extension. If Aye receives a majority in both houses of Congress then Congress shall be able to decide on the length of the extension. The default shall be for the universal income to continue in full until January 1, 2021, in the event of an Aye vote-unless Congress legislates for an alternative end date.
Section 3; Permanent Stimulus Measures
1. The income tax brackets are altered as follows-
a) 0-13K from 10% to 7%
b) 13k-50k from 15% to 12%
c) 50k-130k from 25% to 23%
d) 130k-210k from 29% to 28%
2. The corporate tax brackets are altered as follows-
a) 100k-1 M from 15% to 14%
Section 4; Financial Assistance for Affected Businesses
1. The following financial assistance shall be made available to provide liquidity to eligible businesses related to losses incurred as a direct result of coronavirus, the Department of the Treasury is authorized to make or guarantee loans to eligible businesses.
a) Loans and loan guarantees made pursuant to this section shall be made available to eligible businesses as follows-
i) Not more than $50 billion shall be available for businesses in the Air Transportation subsector.
ii) Not more than $80 billion shall be available for businesses in the Leisure and Hospitality supersector.
iii) Not more than $50 billion shall be available for businesses in the Construction sector.
iv) Not more than $60 billion shall be available for businesses in the Manufacturing sector.
v) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Natural Resources and Mining supersector.
vi) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Repair and Maintenance subsector.
vii) Not more than $20 billion shall be available for businesses in the Personal and Laundry Services subsector.
viii) Not more than $5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Rail Transportation subsector.
ix) Not more than $10 billion shall be available for businesses in the Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation subsector.
x) Not more than $0.5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation subsector.
xi) Not more than $5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Support Activities for Transportation subsector.
xii) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Warehousing and Storage subsector.
xiii) Not more than $100 billion shall be available for other eligible businesses.
b) As soon as practicable, but no later than 10 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall publish procedures for application and minimum requirements for the making of loans and loan guarantees under this section.
c) Amounts collected from businesses that received loans or loan guarantees under this section shall be deposited in the Treasury.
d) A business is eligible for the loans made available in this section if the business-
i) Is based in the Republic of Atlasia.
ii) Has incurred losses as a result of coronavirus such that the continued operations of the business are jeopardized, as determined by the Department of the Treasury.
e) The Attorney General may use $100 million of the funds made available under this section to pay costs and administrative expenses associated with the provision of direct loans or guarantees authorized under this section.
2. The following conditions are attached to the financial assistance for recipient corporations-
a) Recipient companies are forbidden for one year after receiving their assistance from taking actions that result in a net decrease in the number of individuals on their payroll or reduce employees hours without their consent, unless based solely on documented serious employee incompetence or bad faith actions (provided other remedies have proven infeasible).
b) Recipient companies are forbidden for five years after receiving their assistance from engaging in share repurchases.
c) Recipient companies are forbidden for all the time they are receiving their assistance and for three years thereafter from paying out dividends or executive bonuses.
d) Recipient companies must permanently set aside at least one seat on the board of directors for a representative elected by their workers.
e) Recipient companies shall have all their collective bargaining agreements remain in place and for one year after receiving assistance said agreements shall not be reopened or renegotiated.
f) CEOs of recipient companies shall personally certify their company is in compliance and face criminal penalty of up to 10 years in prison or a fine not exceeding $50 million for false certifications.
g) A Coronavirus Financial Assistance Oversight Panel shall be established to enforce these conditions, with $20 million appropriated for it and with the ability to issue subpoenas to the recipient companies and individuals involved.

Sponsor: President Pericles
House Designation: HB 23-05

72 hours to debate.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

I have a few problems with this:
1. This bill leaves open the possibility of infinite UBI, even if or when we don't need it. Remember, our government is affected by this economy too, and if UBI is extended past the timeframe we need it, the budget could suffer.
2. Why exactly are we lowering the corprate tax bracket? I get some large corporations are dealing with massive stock drops, particularly the airline and manufacturing industries, but that doesn't mean big tech, pharmaceutical, and retail corporations should get a free ride. I know it's unpopular, but I believe that bailouts of the suffering industries would be a better solution in a separate bill. It's an evil, but a necessary one, or hell, leaving section 4 as is and eliminating the corporate tax bracket adjustment would work just as fine.
3.

d) A business is eligible for the loans made available in this section if the business-
i) Is based in the Republic of Atlasia.
ii) Has incurred losses as a result of coronavirus such that the continued operations of the business are jeopardized, as determined by the Department of the Treasury.

A bit too open-ended for my liking, there should be a set value of how jeopardized a business is (i.e, lost X% of value). We can't just have Amazon waltz in and hand them a bag of money. Would rather have this section be for smaller businesses or a specific set of industries like in 4a.

That's about it, solid otherwise.

[Pericles]

I have a few problems with this:
1. This bill leaves open the possibility of infinite UBI, even if or when we don't need it. Remember, our government is affected by this economy too, and if UBI is extended past the timeframe we need it, the budget could suffer.
2. Why exactly are we lowering the corprate tax bracket? I get some large corporations are dealing with massive stock drops, particularly the airline and manufacturing industries, but that doesn't mean big tech, pharmaceutical, and retail corporations should get a free ride. I know it's unpopular, but I believe that bailouts of the suffering industries would be a better solution in a separate bill. It's an evil, but a necessary one, or hell, leaving section 4 as is and eliminating the corporate tax bracket adjustment would work just as fine.
3.

d) A business is eligible for the loans made available in this section if the business-
i) Is based in the Republic of Atlasia.
ii) Has incurred losses as a result of coronavirus such that the continued operations of the business are jeopardized, as determined by the Department of the Treasury.

A bit too open-ended for my liking, there should be a set value of how jeopardized a business is (i.e, lost X% of value). We can't just have Amazon waltz in and hand them a bag of money. Would rather have this section be for smaller businesses or a specific set of industries like in 4a.

That's about it, solid otherwise.

1. My intention with the extension process is to allow the stimulus to continue if we find that the economy is still in need of it by October. I don't think we should be adopting a permanent UBI-currently I would oppose such a bill. If Congress wants to pass an actual permanent UBI then I suppose this makes it slightly easier but in that event a permanent UBI would pass anyway. However, the default in the event that Congress votes Aye on an extension then does not legislate for a different time period is for the full UBI to last until the end of the year-which given the circumstances is not that unreasonable (though at this point we may only need it until October).
2. I see a corporate tax cut as providing some stimulus too, and I did only cut the lower bracket. I think such a tax cut is a fair stimulus measure.
3. I think ii makes sure there are appropriate precautions in place, "such that the continued operations of the business are jeopardized" makes it more than just Amazon complaining they lost some profit. Treasury also determining it-along with the strict conditions and enforcement this bill has in place-means this financial relief will be well managed unlike past rl examples and won't be abused.

[lfromnj]

Again why is this 3000 per month?
As cruel as this sounds, we don't want a surplus of cash right now as supply right now is quite inelastic because of all the shutdowns, so all this would do would be causing inflation. Later on when the virus is over the law of sticky prices would keep prices generally higher for consumers. Start it with a solid first payment for a month thats and then move onto means testing payments. The first payment shouldn't be means tested as we dont have time to choose but later on we can start doing it as we wan't basically everyone to have the bare minimum to survive this pandemic but we want to avoid giving more than necessary.

I am not gonna be a super deficit hawk during emergencies but we do also need to care about the amount we spend now.

Also is the 25% reduction based on simple or compunded? Im assuming simple as compounded would technically never go away

[cinyc]

Again why is this 3000 per month?
As cruel as this sounds, we don't want a surplus of cash right now as supply right now is quite inelastic because of all the shutdowns, so all this would do would be causing inflation. Later on when the virus is over the law of sticky prices would keep prices generally higher for consumers. Start it with a solid first payment for a month thats and then move onto means testing payments. The first payment shouldn't be means tested as we dont have time to choose but later on we can start doing it as we wan't basically everyone to have the bare minimum to survive this pandemic but we want to avoid giving more than necessary.

I am not gonna be a super deficit hawk during emergencies but we do also need to care about the amount we spend now.

Also is the 25% reduction based on simple or compunded? Im assuming simple as compounded would technically never go away

It’s hard to see how this is inflationary when people are being put out of work due to government actions. Please explain.

[lfromnj]

Again why is this 3000 per month?
As cruel as this sounds, we don't want a surplus of cash right now as supply right now is quite inelastic because of all the shutdowns, so all this would do would be causing inflation. Later on when the virus is over the law of sticky prices would keep prices generally higher for consumers. Start it with a solid first payment for a month thats and then move onto means testing payments. The first payment shouldn't be means tested as we dont have time to choose but later on we can start doing it as we wan't basically everyone to have the bare minimum to survive this pandemic but we want to avoid giving more than necessary.

I am not gonna be a super deficit hawk during emergencies but we do also need to care about the amount we spend now.

Also is the 25% reduction based on simple or compunded? Im assuming simple as compounded would technically never go away

It’s hard to see how this is inflationary when people are being put out of work due to government actions. Please explain.

A one time payment of 3k wouldn't cause too much but plenty of people are still in work, and as future payments continue giving people these 3k when they don't necessarily need it and when nothing is being produced would clearly cause temporary inflation and probably a likely end of some stick prices.

[thumb21]

Bringing across Tack's amendment.

A BILL
To rescue the Atlasian economy

Be it enacted in both houses of Congress assembled

Section 1. Title
1. This legislation may be cited as the Emergency Economic Stimulus Act of 2020.
Section 2. Temporary universal income
1. Every Atlasian adult citizen at 18 years of age or above, regardless of income or employment status, shall receive $3,000 $2000 on the first day of each month until October 1, 2020.
2. Every applicable household shall receive $1,000 $1000 per child on the first day of each month until October 1, 2020.
3. From October 1, 2020, the universal income shall decrease by 25% on the first day of each month until it is eliminated.
4. A congressional vote shall begin 14 days before October 1, 2020 in both houses of Congress for Congress to decide whether or not to extend the universal income.
a) The vote shall be a simple 'Aye' or 'Nay' on the extension. If Aye receives a majority in both houses of Congress then Congress shall be able to decide on the length of the extension. The default shall be for the universal income to continue in full until January 1, 2021, in the event of an Aye vote-unless Congress legislates for an alternative end date.
Section 3; Permanent Stimulus Measures
1. The income tax brackets are altered as follows-
a) 0-13K from 10% to 7%
b) 13k-50k from 15% to 12%
c) 50k-130k from 25% to 23%
d) 130k-210k from 29% to 28%
2. The corporate tax brackets are altered as follows-
a) 100k-1 M from 15% to 14%
Section 4; Financial Assistance for Affected Businesses
1. The following financial assistance shall be made available to provide liquidity to eligible businesses related to losses incurred as a direct result of coronavirus, the Department of the Treasury is authorized to make or guarantee loans to eligible businesses.
a) Loans and loan guarantees made pursuant to this section shall be made available to eligible businesses as follows-
i) Not more than $50 billion shall be available for businesses in the Air Transportation subsector.
ii) Not more than $80 billion shall be available for businesses in the Leisure and Hospitality supersector.
iii) Not more than $50 billion shall be available for businesses in the Construction sector.
iv) Not more than $60 billion shall be available for businesses in the Manufacturing sector.
v) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Natural Resources and Mining supersector.
vi) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Repair and Maintenance subsector.
vii) Not more than $20 billion shall be available for businesses in the Personal and Laundry Services subsector.
viii) Not more than $5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Rail Transportation subsector.
ix) Not more than $10 billion shall be available for businesses in the Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation subsector.
x) Not more than $0.5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation subsector.
xi) Not more than $5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Support Activities for Transportation subsector.
xii) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Warehousing and Storage subsector.
xiii) Not more than $100 billion shall be available for other eligible businesses.
b) As soon as practicable, but no later than 10 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall publish procedures for application and minimum requirements for the making of loans and loan guarantees under this section.
c) Amounts collected from businesses that received loans or loan guarantees under this section shall be deposited in the Treasury.
d) A business is eligible for the loans made available in this section if the business-
i) Is based in the Republic of Atlasia.
ii) Has incurred losses as a result of coronavirus such that the continued operations of the business are jeopardized, as determined by the Department of the Treasury.
e) The Attorney General may use $100 million of the funds made available under this section to pay costs and administrative expenses associated with the provision of direct loans or guarantees authorized under this section.
2. The following conditions are attached to the financial assistance for recipient corporations-
a) Recipient companies are forbidden for one year after receiving their assistance from taking actions that result in a net decrease in the number of individuals on their payroll or reduce employees hours without their consent, unless based solely on documented serious employee incompetence or bad faith actions (provided other remedies have proven infeasible).
b) Recipient companies are forbidden for five years after receiving their assistance from engaging in share repurchases.
c) Recipient companies are forbidden for all the time they are receiving their assistance and for three years thereafter from paying out dividends or executive bonuses.
d) Recipient companies must permanently set aside at least one seat on the board of directors for a representative elected by their workers.
e) Recipient companies shall have all their collective bargaining agreements remain in place and for one year after receiving assistance said agreements shall not be reopened or renegotiated.
f) CEOs of recipient companies shall personally certify their company is in compliance and face criminal penalty of up to 10 years in prison or a fine not exceeding $50 million for false certifications.
g) A Coronavirus Financial Assistance Oversight Panel shall be established to enforce these conditions, with $20 million appropriated for it and with the ability to issue subpoenas to the recipient companies and individuals involved.

Section 4. Spending freezes
1a. Citizens, permanent residents and households in the Republic of Atlasia who do not have a source of income above the federal minimum wage between April 1, 2020 and October 1, 2020; may not be evicted from their house, nor their supply of water, electricity or internet cut off; for not paying the appropiate bills.
1b. Between October 2nd, 2020 and January 31st, 2021; utilities may be cut for not paying their appropiate bills, but no tenants shall be evicted from their house for not paying the appropiate mortgage or rent bills.
1c. After January 31st, 2021; companies and tenants may rise the appropiate bills by no more than 10% in order to recover the unpaid dues.
2. The earning of unemployment benefits between April 1st, 2020 and October 1st, 2020 shall not affect in any way the collection of future unemployment benefits.
3. The payments discussed in Sections 2.1 and 2.2 shall not be counted towards the federal minimum wage accounting discussed in Section 4.1

I agree with some of the concerns that $3000 is too much, it would make sense to decrease the cash payment if other costs like rent and bills were suspended.

[thumb21]

On the idea of means testing, might be a better idea to tax the money back later for people on higher incomes. I don't think it'd be realistic to send people forms to fill out in the middle of a pandemic.

[Elcaspar]

On the idea of means testing, might be a better idea to tax the money back later for people on higher incomes. I don't think it'd be realistic to send people forms to fill out in the middle of a pandemic.

Yeah i agree. It would definitely be better if we pay for it later by taxing those with higher incomes.

[RC (a la Frémont)]

I have a few problems with this:
1. This bill leaves open the possibility of infinite UBI, even if or when we don't need it. Remember, our government is affected by this economy too, and if UBI is extended past the timeframe we need it, the budget could suffer.
2. Why exactly are we lowering the corprate tax bracket? I get some large corporations are dealing with massive stock drops, particularly the airline and manufacturing industries, but that doesn't mean big tech, pharmaceutical, and retail corporations should get a free ride. I know it's unpopular, but I believe that bailouts of the suffering industries would be a better solution in a separate bill. It's an evil, but a necessary one, or hell, leaving section 4 as is and eliminating the corporate tax bracket adjustment would work just as fine.
3.

d) A business is eligible for the loans made available in this section if the business-
i) Is based in the Republic of Atlasia.
ii) Has incurred losses as a result of coronavirus such that the continued operations of the business are jeopardized, as determined by the Department of the Treasury.

A bit too open-ended for my liking, there should be a set value of how jeopardized a business is (i.e, lost X% of value). We can't just have Amazon waltz in and hand them a bag of money. Would rather have this section be for smaller businesses or a specific set of industries like in 4a.

That's about it, solid otherwise.

1. My intention with the extension process is to allow the stimulus to continue if we find that the economy is still in need of it by October. I don't think we should be adopting a permanent UBI-currently I would oppose such a bill. If Congress wants to pass an actual permanent UBI then I suppose this makes it slightly easier but in that event a permanent UBI would pass anyway. However, the default in the event that Congress votes Aye on an extension then does not legislate for a different time period is for the full UBI to last until the end of the year-which given the circumstances is not that unreasonable (though at this point we may only need it until October).
2. I see a corporate tax cut as providing some stimulus too, and I did only cut the lower bracket. I think such a tax cut is a fair stimulus measure.
3. I think ii makes sure there are appropriate precautions in place, "such that the continued operations of the business are jeopardized" makes it more than just Amazon complaining they lost some profit. Treasury also determining it-along with the strict conditions and enforcement this bill has in place-means this financial relief will be well managed unlike past rl examples and won't be abused.

Alright, sounds reasonable.

[lfromnj]

Anyway my opinion of bailout loans is that the first year should be relatively low interest but anything past this year should really be quite high interest to encourage companies to save up.

[thumb21]

The amendment was adopted.

[thumb21]

A BILL
To rescue the Atlasian economy

Be it enacted in both houses of Congress assembled

Section 1. Title
1. This legislation may be cited as the Emergency Economic Stimulus Act of 2020.
Section 2. Temporary universal income
1. Every Atlasian adult citizen at 18 years of age or above, regardless of income or employment status, shall receive $2000 on the first day of each month from April 1, 2020 until October 1, 2020.
2. Every applicable household shall receive $1000 per child on the first day of each month until October 1, 2020.
3. From October 1, 2020, the universal income shall decrease by 25% on the first day of each month until it is eliminated.
4. A congressional vote shall begin 14 days before October 1, 2020 in both houses of Congress for Congress to decide whether or not to extend the universal income.
a) The vote shall be a simple 'Aye' or 'Nay' on the extension. If Aye receives a majority in both houses of Congress then Congress shall be able to decide on the length of the extension. The default shall be for the universal income to continue in full until January 1, 2021, in the event of an Aye vote-unless Congress legislates for an alternative end date.
Section 3; Permanent Stimulus Measures
1. The income tax brackets are altered as follows-
a) 0-13K from 10% to 7%
b) 13k-50k from 15% to 12%
c) 50k-130k from 25% to 23%
d) 130k-210k from 29% to 28%
2. The corporate tax brackets are altered as follows-
a) 100k-1 M from 15% to 14%
Section 4; Funding
1. The income tax brackets shall be altered as follows beggining FY2022-
a) 50k-130k from 23% to 24%
b) 130k-210k from 29% to 30%
c) 210k-413k from 34% to 35%
d) 413k-441k from 36% to 38%
e) 441k+ from 40.6% to 43%
Section 4; Financial Assistance for Affected Businesses
1. The following financial assistance shall be made available to provide liquidity to eligible businesses related to losses incurred as a direct result of coronavirus, the Department of the Treasury is authorized to make or guarantee loans to eligible businesses.
a) Loans and loan guarantees made pursuant to this section shall be made available to eligible businesses as follows-
i) Not more than $50 billion shall be available for businesses in the Air Transportation subsector.
ii) Not more than $80 billion shall be available for businesses in the Leisure and Hospitality supersector.
iii) Not more than $50 billion shall be available for businesses in the Construction sector.
iv) Not more than $60 billion shall be available for businesses in the Manufacturing sector.
v) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Natural Resources and Mining supersector.
vi) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Repair and Maintenance subsector.
vii) Not more than $20 billion shall be available for businesses in the Personal and Laundry Services subsector.
viii) Not more than $5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Rail Transportation subsector.
ix) Not more than $10 billion shall be available for businesses in the Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation subsector.
x) Not more than $0.5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation subsector.
xi) Not more than $5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Support Activities for Transportation subsector.
xii) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Warehousing and Storage subsector.
xiii) Not more than $100 billion shall be available for other eligible businesses.
b) As soon as practicable, but no later than 10 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall publish procedures for application and minimum requirements for the making of loans and loan guarantees under this section.
c) Amounts collected from businesses that received loans or loan guarantees under this section shall be deposited in the Treasury.
d) A business is eligible for the loans made available in this section if the business-
i) Is based in the Republic of Atlasia.
ii) Has incurred losses as a result of coronavirus such that the continued operations of the business are jeopardized, as determined by the Department of the Treasury.
e) The Attorney General may use $100 million of the funds made available under this section to pay costs and administrative expenses associated with the provision of direct loans or guarantees authorized under this section.
2. The following conditions are attached to the financial assistance for recipient corporations-
a) Recipient companies are forbidden for one year after receiving their assistance from taking actions that result in a net decrease in the number of individuals on their payroll or reduce employees hours without their consent, unless based solely on documented serious employee incompetence or bad faith actions (provided other remedies have proven infeasible).
b) Recipient companies are forbidden for five years after receiving their assistance from engaging in share repurchases.
c) Recipient companies are forbidden for all the time they are receiving their assistance and for three years thereafter from paying out dividends or executive bonuses.
d) Recipient companies must permanently set aside at least one seat on the board of directors for a representative elected by their workers.
e) Recipient companies shall have all their collective bargaining agreements remain in place and for one year after receiving assistance said agreements shall not be reopened or renegotiated.
f) CEOs of recipient companies shall personally certify their company is in compliance and face criminal penalty of up to 10 years in prison or a fine not exceeding $50 million for false certifications.
g) A Coronavirus Financial Assistance Oversight Panel shall be established to enforce these conditions, with $20 million appropriated for it and with the ability to issue subpoenas to the recipient companies and individuals involved.

Section 4. Spending freezes
1a. Citizens, permanent residents and households in the Republic of Atlasia who do not have a source of income above the federal minimum wage between April 1, 2020 and October 1, 2020; may not be evicted from their house, nor their supply of water, electricity or internet cut off; for not paying the appropiate bills.
1b. Between October 2nd, 2020 and January 31st, 2021; utilities may be cut for not paying their appropiate bills, but no tenants shall be evicted from their house for not paying the appropiate mortgage or rent bills.
1c. After January 31st, 2021; companies and tenants may rise the appropiate bills by no more than 10% in order to recover the unpaid dues.
2. The earning of unemployment benefits between April 1st, 2020 and October 1st, 2020 shall not affect in any way the collection of future unemployment benefits.
3. The payments discussed in Sections 2.1 and 2.2 shall not be counted towards the federal minimum wage accounting discussed in Section 4.1

[thumb21]

Given that this bill probably won't pass by the 1st of April, I added specifically that a payment is owed on that date too. The payment will come late but I was worried that the wording as it stood originally would assume that the first payment would come on the 1st of May instead, which is way too late.

I prefered to remove the tax cuts for wealthier groups because they will still get their Atlasbucks, I don't think tax cuts would also be needed. I also increased taxes or returned them to pre-covid levels for FY2022 by which time I hope the pandemic is over and we will have some more economic stability, which will help provide some of the funding for this.

[thumb21]

A BILL
To rescue the Atlasian economy

Be it enacted in both houses of Congress assembled

Section 1. Title
1. This legislation may be cited as the Emergency Economic Stimulus Act of 2020.
Section 2. Temporary universal income
1. Every Atlasian adult citizen at 18 years of age or above, regardless of income or employment status, shall receive $2000 on the first day of each month from April 1, 2020 until October 1, 2020.
2. Every applicable household shall receive $1000 per child on the first day of each month from April 1, 2020 until October 1, 2020.
3. From October 1, 2020, the universal income shall decrease by 25% on the first day of each month until it is eliminated.
4. A congressional vote shall begin 14 days before October 1, 2020 in both houses of Congress for Congress to decide whether or not to extend the universal income.
a) The vote shall be a simple 'Aye' or 'Nay' on the extension. If Aye receives a majority in both houses of Congress then Congress shall be able to decide on the length of the extension. The default shall be for the universal income to continue in full until January 1, 2021, in the event of an Aye vote-unless Congress legislates for an alternative end date.
Section 3; Permanent Stimulus Measures
1. The income tax brackets are altered as follows-
a) 0-13K from 10% to 7%
b) 13k-50k from 15% to 12%
c) 50k-130k from 25% to 23%
d) 130k-210k from 29% to 28%
2. The corporate tax brackets are altered until the 1st of August 2021 as follows-
a) 100k-1 M from 15% to 14%
Section 4; Financial Assistance for Affected Businesses
1. The following financial assistance shall be made available to provide liquidity to eligible businesses related to losses incurred as a direct result of coronavirus, the Department of the Treasury is authorized to make or guarantee loans to eligible businesses.
a) Loans and loan guarantees made pursuant to this section shall be made available to eligible businesses as follows-
i) Not more than $50 billion shall be available for businesses in the Air Transportation subsector.
ii) Not more than $80 billion shall be available for businesses in the Leisure and Hospitality supersector.
iii) Not more than $50 billion shall be available for businesses in the Construction sector.
iv) Not more than $60 billion shall be available for businesses in the Manufacturing sector.
v) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Natural Resources and Mining supersector.
vi) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Repair and Maintenance subsector.
vii) Not more than $20 billion shall be available for businesses in the Personal and Laundry Services subsector.
viii) Not more than $5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Rail Transportation subsector.
ix) Not more than $10 billion shall be available for businesses in the Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation subsector.
x) Not more than $0.5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation subsector.
xi) Not more than $5 billion shall be available for businesses in the Support Activities for Transportation subsector.
xii) Not more than $15 billion shall be available for businesses in the Warehousing and Storage subsector.
xiii) Not more than $100 billion shall be available for other eligible businesses.
b) As soon as practicable, but no later than 10 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall publish procedures for application and minimum requirements for the making of loans and loan guarantees under this section.
c) Amounts collected from businesses that received loans or loan guarantees under this section shall be deposited in the Treasury.
d) A business is eligible for the loans made available in this section if the business-
i) Is based in the Republic of Atlasia.
ii) Has incurred losses as a result of coronavirus such that the continued operations of the business are jeopardized, as determined by the Department of the Treasury.
e) The Attorney General may use $100 million of the funds made available under this section to pay costs and administrative expenses associated with the provision of direct loans or guarantees authorized under this section.
2. The following conditions are attached to the financial assistance for recipient corporations-
a) Recipient companies are forbidden for one year after receiving their assistance from taking actions that result in a net decrease in the number of individuals on their payroll or reduce employees hours without their consent, unless based solely on documented serious employee incompetence or bad faith actions (provided other remedies have proven infeasible).
b) Recipient companies are forbidden for five years after receiving their assistance from engaging in share repurchases.
c) Recipient companies are forbidden for all the time they are receiving their assistance and for three years thereafter from paying out dividends or executive bonuses.
d) Recipient companies must permanently set aside at least one seat on the board of directors for a representative elected by their workers.
e) Recipient companies shall have all their collective bargaining agreements remain in place and for one year after receiving assistance said agreements shall not be reopened or renegotiated.
f) CEOs of recipient companies shall personally certify their company is in compliance and face criminal penalty of up to 10 years in prison or a fine not exceeding $50 million for false certifications.
g) A Coronavirus Financial Assistance Oversight Panel shall be established to enforce these conditions, with $20 million appropriated for it and with the ability to issue subpoenas to the recipient companies and individuals involved.

Section 5. Spending freezes
1a. Citizens, permanent residents and households in the Republic of Atlasia who do not have a source of income above the federal minimum wage between April 1, 2020 and October 1, 2020; may not be evicted from their house, nor their supply of water, electricity or internet cut off; for not paying the appropiate bills.
1b. Between October 2nd, 2020 and January 31st, 2021; utilities may be cut for not paying their appropiate bills, but no tenants shall be evicted from their house for not paying the appropiate mortgage or rent bills.
1c. After January 31st, 2021; companies and tenants may rise the appropiate bills by no more than 10% in order to recover the unpaid dues.
2. The earning of unemployment benefits between April 1st, 2020 and October 1st, 2020 shall not affect in any way the collection of future unemployment benefits.
3. The payments discussed in Sections 2.1 and 2.2 shall not be counted towards the federal minimum wage accounting discussed in Section 4.1

[thumb21]

In the interests of passing this bill smoothly, I've removed parts of my amendment where objections have been raised. I don't agree with a permanent cut in corporation tax and as discussed below, I think the best solution to the means testing debate is to tax the money back later rather than making people fill out forms. I'll be raising these issues in future, but for the time being we can't afford to not pass this very soon.

[Lumine]

Was about to object before I saw the changes made. As I was going to state, whilst the emphasis should be on delivering needed resources to most citizens - and in that sense I wholeheartedly support a temporary UBI measure -, I do think the Administration got it right in terms of adding some stimulus measures to help the economy, and I think Thumb's proposal of maintaining the corporate tax cut while eliminating the tax cuts for the highest bracket is sensible.

I do wonder if there's support for reduction in some of the proposed financial assistance, particularly towards the airlines. I absolutely get why there are several industries that we must protect and support, but I'd be concerned about spending too many resources on some companies which don't appear to be that deserving of being bailed out.

[thumb21]

I do wonder if there's support for reduction in some of the proposed financial assistance, particularly towards the airlines. I absolutely get why there are several industries that we must protect and support, but I'd be concerned about spending too many resources on some companies which don't appear to be that deserving of being bailed out.

If you have an amendment, I'm open to it but also be aware of the urgency to pass this, especially with the senate trying to push for a vote already it seems.

[Lumine]

I do wonder if there's support for reduction in some of the proposed financial assistance, particularly towards the airlines. I absolutely get why there are several industries that we must protect and support, but I'd be concerned about spending too many resources on some companies which don't appear to be that deserving of being bailed out.

If you have an amendment, I'm open to it but also be aware of the urgency to pass this, especially with the senate trying to push for a vote already it seems.

On second thought, no, it's not that big of an issue considering it will really depend on the Administration will be implementing this measures (Truman as Attorney General? This is the type of situation in which having a Treasury Secretary could mean a lot of fun government interaction), and in that case it's better to offer reasonable scrutiny of the expenditures.

I'll be supporting the bill as it stands.

[thumb21]

Motion for a final vote

[thumb21]

Also, just in case there was ambiguity, my amendment was adopted.

[thumb21]

Final vote

48 hours

[thumb21]

Aye

[cinyc]

Abstain

[Leinad]

Aye