Earlier this week, the Department of the Treasury released its requests to Congress for the third-phase of COVID-19 response legislation. This request includes $500 billion in direct payments to Americans, $300 billion in loans to small businesses, $150 billion to distressed industries, and $50 billion to the airline industry. Add it all up, and we’re looking at a $1 trillion package to address COVID-19, in addition to the roughly $110 billion that Congress has already spent in response to the pandemic.

An amendment being offered in the Senate to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, H.R. 6201, would dramatically improve the emergency legislation that seeks to help Americans cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. As passed by the House, however, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act may hurt the very workers it attempts to help.

The state of the economy is on everyone’s mind due to the COVID-19 and the more frequent practice of social distancing. People are staying at home due to the virus, which will have a negative impact on consumption. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the administration is “looking at sending checks to Americans immediately.” The idea is similar in approach to proposals from Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

The Senate will consider the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, H.R. 6201, at some point this week, possibly as soon as today. The House already passed the bill in the early hours of Saturday morning, with members having little time to read the legislation before voting on it. The abysmal process concerns aside, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act includes provisions that would certainly have devastating unintended consequences.

The Senate is in session this week. The House is in recess.

Three provisions of the Foreign International Surveillance Act (FISA) will expire on Sunday. The expiration of these provisions isn’t a surprise, but Congress has treated it as such because of its proclivity for governing by crisis. Another issue that has reverberated in the debate over the reauthorization of these provisions is the attempt by congressional leadership to shut out the voices of privacy hawks in Congress.

There has been some recent uproar over a regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services designed to strengthen Medicaid, the government program that provides health insurance coverage for individuals below certain income levels. The regulation has sparked a curious bipartisan backlash from Capitol Hill and from state governments.

The House and Senate are in session this week.

The House and Senate are in session this week.