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No CARES Act conspiracy in timeline

Timeline, a letter writer on May 16 asked for an explanation why the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act seems to have been already introduced in January of 2019. It is true that H.R. 748, which contains the CARES Act, was originally introduced as a bill on January 24, 2019 by Representative Joe Courtney of Connecticut (D).

At the time, however, the bill was titled the “Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2019.”

The House passed the initial version of H.R. 748 on July 17, 2019, which did not include any coronavirus related provisions. The bill was then put on the Senate’s calendar.

On March 20, 2020, the Senate decided to proceed with H.R. 748 but removed the previous content and inserted the provisions of the CARES Act.

This was done to speed up the process. Otherwise, any bill that spends money would have had to start in the House and make its slow way to the senate. No conspiracy here!

Adrienne Gaedeke

Haiku

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