Actors and Writers and Now, Congressional Lobbyists
Be an #ArtsHero started with a failed effort to extend unemployment benefits. It’s gone on to be a prime proponent of the message: Cultural work is labor.
The founding members of the advocacy group Be an #ArtsHero, clockwise from top left: Jenny Grace Makholm, Carson Elrod, Brooke Ishibashi and Matthew-Lee Erlbach.Credit.Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Art is what binds us. It illuminates the human condition. It’s good for the soul.
Those are the kind of arguments you usually hear when artists and cultural institutions ask for money. The advocacy group Be an #ArtsHero, which was created this summer by four New York theatermakers, takes a different approach.
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After months of debate, Congress has passed, and President Trump is expected to sign, a COVID-19 relief, appropriations, and tax bill. Doubtlessly, the Bill, which is nearly 6,000 pages long, will undergo much scrutiny and analysis over the ensuing days and weeks.
But, judging from available legislative summaries, the following are key provisions of which employers should be aware.
Tax Provisions
Extension and Expansion of the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC):
The Bill extends and expands, through July 1, 2021, the CARES Act’s refundable ERTC. The extension is aimed at helping to keep additional US workers on payroll and more small businesses and nonprofits across the country remain afloat. Specifically, the Bill, among other things:
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
On December 21, 2020, Congress passed a long-anticipated additional round of COVID relief legislation as part of the
Bipartisan-Bicameral Omnibus COVID Relief Deal. This relief bill provides much-needed stimulus to individuals, businesses, and hospitals in response to the economic distress caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The votes were overwhelming as the Senate passed the bill with a 92-6 vote and the House of Representatives passed it by a vote of 359-53. President Trump is expected to sign the legislation into law. The relief bill was included as Division N of a larger legislative package that included government funding and other bills. The complete text of the legislative package can be found here, and it was the result of last-minute frantic negotiations. Below is a detailed summary of every provision of the COVID relief bill. You can find our Top 10 takeaways summary here.
Federal aid extended for unemployment benefits
Trump finally signs bill with 11-week extension attached to government funding.
Thousands of Oregonians may have to wait a little longer for payments, but action by Congress ensures that their unemployment benefits will continue through March 13.
President Donald Trump signed the bill Sunday, Dec. 27, after threatening to derail the plan that contains the 11-week extensions. The extensions are part of an $892 billion follow-up pandemic aid plan to the CARES Act that Trump signed on March 27.
Both houses of Congress passed the plan Dec. 21 and attached it to a bill that extends federal spending authority through Sept. 30, the end of the federal budget year.
While vaccine distribution has started among local healthcare workers, the latest figures posted to the Alamance County Health Department website Wednesday morning show the pandemic is more widespread than ever.
There have been a total of 10,057 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Alamance County since March and 136 deaths.
Figures made available on Monday indicates 670 new cases confirmed in the past week and seven new deaths. Two more deaths have been added as of Wednesday morning. The Health Department reported 919 individuals remain in isolation, while 8,886 have recovered, according to Monday figures. Fifty-six people were hospitalized for COVID-related care as of Monday.An average of 112 new cases has been reported per day in the last week, including 133 on Monday.