# Plain Language Summary: Protect Seniors and Cut Waste Act

This bill makes several changes to pandemic relief spending and eligibility rules. At its core, it redirects money that was originally allocated for state and local government aid toward healthcare providers instead, and it adds new restrictions on who can receive certain federal benefits.

The bill cuts funding that states and cities would receive under the American Rescue Plan (the major COVID relief package passed in 2021). Specifically, it reduces state and local government aid by $140 billion—cutting the total from about $220 billion down to about $80 billion for states, and from about $195 billion down to about $55 billion for cities and counties. That money instead goes to healthcare providers as reimbursement for COVID-related expenses and lost revenue. Healthcare facilities can apply for grants to cover things like medical equipment, staffing costs, and facility upgrades related to the pandemic. The bill requires these providers to document their expenses and report how they're using the funds, with oversight from federal inspectors.

The bill also adds eligibility restrictions to pandemic relief payments. It prevents people who are not lawfully present in the United States and people who were incarcerated from receiving the $1,400 stimulus checks that were part of the American Rescue Plan. Additionally, it requires people to have a Social Security number to receive subsidized health insurance under COBRA (the program that lets people keep employer health coverage after losing a job). The bill also makes technical adjustments to how Medicare pays rural health clinics and certain hospitals that serve low-income patients, and it cancels unspent funds from arts and culture programs that received pandemic relief money.

Protect Seniors and Cut Waste Act

Smith, Jason

Protect Seniors and Cut Waste Act This bill prohibits the budgetary effects of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 from being counted for the purposes of determining whether a specified sequester occurs under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010. (The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provided funding to address the impact of COVID-19. Sequestration is a process of automatic, usually across-the-board spending reductions under which budgetary resources are permanently cancelled to enforce specific budget policy goals.) The bill also modifies several other provisions related to COVID-19 spending. Among other modifications, the bill <ul> <li>provides supplemental appropriations for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund to reimburse certain health care providers for health care related expenses or lost revenues that are attributable to the coronavirus;</li> <li>rescinds certain funds that were provided for payments to states, territories, and tribal governments to mitigate the fiscal effects stemming from the COVID-19 public health emergency;</li> <li>prohibits individuals who are incarcerated or unlawfully present in the United States from receiving 2021 recovery rebates; and </li> <li> rescinds funds that were provided by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Emergency Federal Employee Leave Fund. </li> </ul>