Draft legislation from congressional committees were made public for the Democrats’ big COVID-19 relief package. The House Financial Services Committee revealing plans to provide $14 billion in aid to airlines for payroll costs, along with $1 billion for airline contractors.
The additional “Payroll Support Program” money for the airline industry counts as the “first surprise” as Democratic-run committees begin the work of writing the relief bill, said Height Capital Markets analyst Hunter Hammond.
“We are a bit surprised at the inclusion of airline aid, given that it was not a part of the Biden American Rescue Plan, but this should be a reminder to investors (and ourselves) of what we wrote last month – that the plan Congress approves will be similar to, but not a carbon copy of, the Biden plan,” Hammond said.
Draft legislation from another House committee also contained other transportation-related aid, including $8 billion for airports, $30 billion for transit agencies, $1.5 billion to Amtrak and $3 billion for aviation manufacturers’ payroll costs.
