– By Gabriel Pietrorazio
After passing in the U.S. Senate, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day Senate passed the bill with a 90-8 vote.
New York State’s own Senator Kirsten Gillibrand [NY-D] and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer [NY-D] voted in favor of the proposed legislation that came from the House of Representatives.
With overwhelming bipartisan support, the legislation was voted against solely by eight Senate Republicans while two other representatives from the Republican Party abstained.
After passing in the Senate, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act legislation into office later that day.
The newly approved legislation encompasses free coronavirus testing, paid sick leave, expand food assistance and other unemployment benefits as well as require employers to offer additional protections for healthcare workers.
More specifically, the bill’s provisions “establish a federal emergency paid leave benefits program to provide payments to employees taking unpaid leave due to the coronavirus outbreak, expand unemployment benefits and provide grants to states for processing and paying claims, require employers to provide paid sick leave to employees, establish requirements for providing coronavirus diagnostic testing at no cost to consumers, treat personal respiratory protective devices as covered countermeasures that are eligible for certain liability protections, and temporarily increase the Medicaid federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP).”
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