As congressional negotiations over a new round of stimulus heat up, cash aid has emerged as a major sticking point. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has joined with Republican Josh Hawley to demand another round of $1,200 checks, arguing that bailouts for state governments and the airlines aren’t enough for people suffering from the pandemic’s dire economic effects. Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have gone even higher, demanding $2,000 checks this time around.

The campaign for more checks has won wide support, and it’s been heartening to see broad swathes of workers demanding the government give them what they deserve. Yet the issue of direct cash aid has tended to obscure other parts of the CARES Act that were actually more significant. It’s common, for instance, to hear people argue that “the only thing the government has done for workers in a pandemic is a measly $1,200.” But that isn’t true.

The CARES Act, passed at the beginning of the pandemic, provided $1,200 for each adult making less than $99,000 a year and $500 for each child under seventeen in the household. All told, these Economic Impact Payments cost nearly $300 billion. Almost as much, however, went to expanding unemployment insurance, an initiative that some have jokingly called “the superdole.”