PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · May 7, 2020
Undertaking National Initiatives to Tackle Epidemic Act of 2020 or the UNITE Act of 2020
This bill responds to the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) public health emergency by increasing volunteer opportunities within AmeriCorps and employment opportunities at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and requiring the re-enrollment of Peace Corps volunteers whose service ended involuntarily on March 15, 2020, or earlier for volunteers who were serving in China or Mongolia.
Among other things, the bill
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
reauthorizes through FY2022 Americorps programs;
increases recruitment levels of its volunteers to 500,000 in FY2020-FY2022;
sets the minimum compensation for Americorps volunteers, beginning in FY2020, at 200% of the poverty line applicable to a family of one;
increases the ceiling on grant amounts to such volunteers from $18,000 to $25,000;
increases the ceiling on the grant amount maximum limit from to not more than $19,500 to $30,000 per full-time equivalent position if necessary to meet the compelling needs of a particular program;
requires FEMA to appoint, administer, and expedite the training of an additional 62,000 Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees above the level of such employees in FY2019 to address the COVID-19 emergency;
.authorizes federal agencies to provide assistance essential to meeting immediate threats to life and property resulting from a major disaster to provide for temporary or supplementary facilities for official government polling places; and
authorizes the President to pay a state, tribal, or local government in which a major disaster has been declared stipends for temporary workers conducting nonpartisan official election poll worker services.
People & committees
Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] · D–MA
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Apr 21, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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