Democrats’ New $3 Trillion Coronavirus Stimulus Gives Congress $5 MILLION to Upgrade Laptops & WiFi to Cope with Working from Home

So far, the federal government has spent a mammoth $7 trillion to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from taking an even larger toll on the US economy.

While many provisions such as the Paycheck Protection Program ensure that every day Americans are protected, there is also legitimate concern about partisan pork in the stimulus bills.

Democrats have openly stated, for example, that they want to include a vote-by-mail provision in the next stimulus bill.

The Daily Mail has more details on the $5 million proposal to allow Congress to upgrade its laptops and Wifi so they can work from home:

House offices will receive funding to buy new laptops for themselves and their staffers if the new $3 trillion coronavirus package passes as is, a draft of the legislation revealed Tuesday.

In the seventh section of the massive package, there are only two stipulations for financial assistance for the legislative branch, including $5 million to increase technological advances and inventory for members of Congress and their staff.

That number will include money to upgrading 'imaging solution' to meet the demand for 'House imaged laptops.'

'[T]his funding will support an increase in inventory of satellite phone, Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspots, and updated satellite bandwidth technologies to meet escalating demand of District Offices during COVID-19,' the 90-page summary of the HEROES Act outlines.

It also says that part of the $5 million will be used to fund the Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which was formed to provide oversight for economic aid and stimulus allocated to mitigate the fallout from the pandemic.

Rather than pushing to safely reopen the U.S. economy, many Democrats appear intent on keeping an indefinite shutdown.

However, there is no guarantee of a vaccine.

Even if a vaccine is developed, it would likely be months or even years before it is available for widespread public use.

It is likely that this new stimulus package will receive pushback from Republican lawmakers, though no "no" votes have been officially announced or pledged as of this writing.

The bill measures 1,815 pages long and Congress has 2 full days to review before voting on Friday.

The new proposed will is dubbed the HEROES act.

Politico has fresh new details on what else is in the bill:

-- $500 BILLION for state governments.

-- $375 BILLION for local governments.

-- $20 BILLION for tribal relief and $20 BILLION for relief for territories.

-- $3.6 BILLION for “contingency planning, preparation, and resilience of elections for Federal office.”

-- HOUSING ASSISTANCE … $75 BILLION for “states, territories, and tribes to address the ongoing needs of homeowners struggling to afford their housing due directly or indirectly to the impacts of the pandemic by providing direct assistance with mortgage payments, property taxes, property insurance, utilities, and other housing related costs.”

-- $1.5 BILLION for broadband hotspots.

-- $10 BILLION for small businesses.

-- $25 BILLION for the Postal Service.

-- PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES EMERGENCY FUND: $175 BILLION “to reimburse for health care related expenses or lost revenue attributable to the coronavirus, as well as to support testing and contact tracing to effectively monitor and suppress COVID-19.”

A vote on the new $3 trillion bill is expected on Friday.

But the details of the bill were just revealed today. 

To put the size of the new bill into perspective, it is $800 billion more than the previous coronavirus stimulus package which included the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).