[6] At the time the legislation was enacted, more than 50,000 Americans had died from the virus and the pandemic had caused major economic damage, with 26 million people (about 20% of U.S. workers) filing for unemployment assistance over the preceding five weeks.

[12] The CARES Act created the $349-billion Paycheck Protection Program, which provided low-interest loans to small businesses that were forgivable if they maintained their employees and payroll.

Senate Democrats also wanted to add funding for disaster assistance loans and grants, for hospitals, and for states and municipalities.

[1] Senate Democrats also wanted a 15-percent increase in the size of benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

[4] The five House "no" votes were four right-wing Republicans (Thomas Massie, Andy Biggs, Ken Buck, and Jody Hice) and one left-wing Democrat (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).

"[15] Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York called McConnell's suggestion of placing states in bankruptcy "one of the saddest, really dumb comments of all time" and accused him of hyperpartisanship that would deprive police, firefighters, and health-care workers of necessary funding.