{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://schrier.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-schrier-s-vaccines-act-and-bill-protect-salmon-signed-law", "Rep. Schriers VACCINES Act and Bill to Protect Salmon Signed into Law", "2020-12-29", "2020", "2020-12", "Democrat", "House", "WA", "Kim Schrier", "S001216", "schrier.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "ISSAQUAH, WA  CongresswomanKim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08) announced today that her VACCINES Act and a bill to protect salmon were included in the government funding and COVID-19 relief package that was signed into law by the President on Sunday.\nI am proud to have had eight bills signed into law during my first term in office, including two bills this week, said Rep. Schrier. Vaccines were one of the greatest medical accomplishments of the 20th century and remain one of our greatest public health tools to prevent devastating diseases. My VACCINES Act is more important than ever. As we roll out the COVID-19 vaccines, we need to address misinformation about immunizations and increase confidence in the vaccines in order to stop this virus.\nIn addition to theVACCINES Act (Vaccine Awareness Campaign to Champion Immunization Nationally and Enhance Safety Act), Rep. Schrier had a second bill get signed into law with the government funding package. HR 7657, introduced with Rep. Rick Larsen, will ensure projects benefiting salmon and steelhead receive equal consideration under a federal law.\nThe package also included provisions to help families and small businesses struggling to weather the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These provisions will:\n Provide up to $600 stimulus checks for individuals earning up to $75k and phasing out at $87k. Married filers with incomes up to $150k would receive $1,200, which phases out at incomes of $174k. Individuals with children will receive $600 per child.\n\tIncrease unemployment benefits by an additional $300 per week through March 2021, including for the self-employed, independent contractors, and individuals who have exhausted their state benefits\n  Support small businesses with $284 billion for a second round of forgivable PPP loansfor businesseswith more than a 25% drop in revenue\n\tEnsure businesses can still deduct expenses on their taxes if paid for using PPP and EIDL funds\n\tSimplify PPP loan forgiveness application to one page for PPP loans under $150k\n\tExpand Employee Retention Tax Credit from max $10k/employee to $40k/employee\n Additionally, the package increased funding to agriculture and nutrition programs. These include:\n $1.5 billion that can be used to carry out provisions similar to Rep Schrier'sFarmers Feeding Families Actto purchase and distribute agriculture products to individuals in need\n\t$13 billion in increased SNAP and child nutrition benefits\n\tAdditional Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments\n\t$100 million in additional funding to support specialty crop farmers", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://schrier.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-schrier-s-vaccines-act-and-bill-protect-salmon-signed-law"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.395001007243991, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}