The funding - which took a backseat during the Trump administration amid GOP criticism that it was nothing more than a bailout for poorly run Democratic strongholds - is slated for committee action on Friday in the House Oversight and Reform Committee after Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced it. The bill would bypass the traditional appropriations process which is not eligible for budget reconciliation, according to Bloomberg.

States would receive $195 billion and that money would partly be distributed based on a the share of unemployed workers. The District of Columbia would get the same share as states, unlike in last year's relief bill. Local governments would receive $130 billion, partly based on population, with a carve-out for smaller communities. Territories would receive $4.5 billion and tribes $20 billion.

The bill also would spend $570 million to pay for 600 hours of paid leave for federal and postal workers to use for Covid quarantine or to care for infected loved ones. -Bloomberg

"Democrats' plan to bail out locked-down, poorly managed liberal states is unfair to American taxpayers and is ripe for waste, fraud, and abuse," said the committee's top Republican, James Comer of Kentucky.