Congress has passed a $2.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that includes approximately $1.4 trillion to fund the government through September 30, 2021, and approximately $900 billion in economic stimulus.

Many elements of the CDFA COVID-19 Comprehensive Recovery Strategy are in this bill, including increased funding for the CDFI Fund and the EDA, along with important extensions and corrections for several development finance tools.

Additional information and resources will be available in the coming weeks, including an all-new CDFA Federal Financing Webinar Series, updates to the CDFA Federal Financing Clearinghouse, and news and resources captured in the COVID-19 Resource Center.

Summaries of the development finance priorities included in H.R. 133 are listed below.

>>> Read a Section-by-Section Summary of Relief Provisions
>>> Read a Section-by-Section Summary of Appropriations
>>> Read a Section-by-Section Summary of Authorizing Matters
>>> Read the Full Text

The historic $900 billion coronavirus relief package deal that the President signed into law includes $7 billion in new funding for broadband-related purposes. Most of these funds will go to new programs seeking to narrow the digital divide by targeting resources to traditionally underserved communities.

Both houses of Congress passed a measure long sought by flood-vulnerable towns and rivers bordering the Mississippi River: the Resilience Revolving Loan Fund Act. The bill authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to enter into agreements with any state or Indian tribal government to make capitalization grants for the establishment of hazard mitigation revolving loan funds.

Congress has passed a massive legislative package containing both appropriations for Fiscal Year 2021 and additional COVID-19 relief. NACo's analysis highlights relevant components of the year-end spending deal for county governments, outlining both the COVID-19 relief and omnibus spending package provisions of significance for county policy priorities.

After Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief bill, just for a second, restaurants could breathe again. Although the $900 billion relief bill includes elements that will benefit restaurants, such as a second round of PPP, it still is not as much as the $120 billion Restaurants Act, which the Illinois Restaurants Association and others like it have been pushing for since the beginning of the pandemic.

After months of negotiations, Congress passed a COVID-19 stimulus package with much-needed financial relief for agricultural producers, funding for food assistance programs, enhancements to the Paycheck Protection Program, and funding for enhanced broadband access, as well as additional financial resources for agricultural research and farmer stress assistance programs, among others.

Congressional leaders unveiled the highlights of a $900 billion fiscal stimulus package and a $1.4 trillion government funding deal that will deliver critical pandemic aid to millions of Americans and pad federal agency budgets through next September.

President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team are making collaboration between the executive branch and Congress a priority, with early and extensive outreach to the legislative branch. The Biden transition team has already reached out to more than 300 members of the House and almost everyone in the Senate. The objective will be to reach every one of the 535 lawmakers before Inauguration Day.

The Federal Communications Commission has awarded $191 million to Florida internet providers to expand their infrastructure to pockets of rural Florida. The funding was awarded through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), a program established in January to expand high-speed, low-latency broadband networks into unserved rural areas.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 provides changes to the SBA's Paycheck Protection Program. The legislation gives new life to the PPP by extending the program, which had previously expired, and creating an option for a "second draw" for PPP borrowers. The legislation also introduces changes to PPP loans that will impact both new and existing PPP borrowers.

Treasury yields were flat on Tuesday after Congress passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was little changed at 0.935%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond dipped slightly to 1.671%. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

As the presidential transition countdown continues, opportunity zones have been the object of renewed focus, both for their potential benefits and their weaknesses. President-elect Joe Biden's campaign website includes a page, last updated on July 28, detailing how he would like to reform the opportunity zone program to prevent "billionaires [from exploiting] Opportunity Zones tax breaks to pad their wealth."

The CDFI Fund announced that it received 208 applications under the calendar year 2020 round of the New Markets Tax Credit Program. The CDEs that applied under the CY 2020 round are headquartered in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. These applicants requested an aggregate total of $15.1 billion in NMTC allocation authority, over three times the $5 billion in authority available for the 2020 round.

The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency (EERE) is excited to introduce the EERE Program Information Center—EERE's new portal for funding opportunities. Organizations interested in working with EERE can use the EERE Program Information Center to identify and respond to open opportunities.

The USDA announced the official launch of the AskUSDA Contact Center program. The AskUSDA Contact Center will serve as the "one front door" for phone, chat, and web inquires, transforming how the public interacts with USDA and providing an enhanced experience for the public. AskUSDA delivers a centralized contact center that offers customer service and consistent information for the public.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is seeking public comments on a proposed rule that would revise the small business size standards for businesses in five North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) sectors to increase small business eligibility for SBA's loan and contracting programs.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) borrowers have been waiting for additional guidance since April on the deductibility of PPP-funded expenses. The IRS expanded upon this guidance by addressing the situation where a PPP loan has not yet been forgiven by the end of the tax year in which such expenses were incurred.

More than half of the money from the Treasury Department's coronavirus emergency fund for small businesses went to just 5 percent of the recipients, according to data on more than 5 million loans that was released by the government in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit.