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The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package Friday that includes more than $2 billion for Vermont that can be used to help make state and local budgets whole.
The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES, Act includes $200 billion in hazard pay funds for frontline workers, provides $500 billion in direct assistance to state governments, $375 billion for local governments as well as $20 billion to tribal governments and $20 billion to U.S. territories to ease the financial squeeze brought on by Covid-19.
The House passed the bill late Friday on a vote of 208-199, with 14 Democrats voting against. While the legislation has been championed by most House Democrats, it is considered dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate, with Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., calling it a “totally unserious effort.”
“There’s differences and we don’t have the luxury of time for the full debate all of us would prefer,” Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who voted for the bill, said Friday morning on the House floor.
“We must act now and if we make a mistake in how we proceed — and mistakes will be made — it should be on the side of erring to do too much, not too little,” he said.
The bill also offers a second round of $1,200 direct cash aid to individuals — up to $6,000 per household — contains $175 billion in housing assistance to help individuals and businesses pay rents and mortgages, $75 billion in federal money to fund state Covid-19 testing efforts and would expand the $600-per-week in federal unemployment benefits through January 2021.
It also includes $25 billion to bail out the U.S. Postal Service as well as changes to the guidelines for the Small Business Administration’s Payroll Protection Program with the aim of making it better suited for service industry businesses.
The HEROES Act extends access to the fund through the end of 2020 — instead of the middle of June — and would give businesses greater flexibility in how the money can be used.
The Covid-19 relief package, the fifth and largest passed by the House so far, includes more than $2 billion in coronavirus state and local debt relief funds for Vermont than could be used by the state over the next two years to fill the more than $400 million state revenue hole created by the coronavirus emergency.
This additional federal funding would be on top of the $1.25 billion awarded to Vermont in the CARES Act, but would allow much more flexibility in how it could be used by both the Vermont Legislature and the Scott administration.
During his Friday press briefing, Republican Gov. Phil Scott said the latest coronavirus stimulus package could help fill the state’s budget gaps. But Scott added that there is too much uncertainty with what will happen at the federal level and that his administration and the Legislature have begun brainstorming about what might have to be done to solve the issue.
“We don’t have the luxury of knowing what they’re going to do, so that we have to put some of these ideas on the table,” Scott said. “For instance, what if they don’t, and then where are we going to go from there.”
“All ideas on the table,” he added.
During a call with the press, Welch and other House members from neighboring New England states called on Senate Republicans to immediately take up the HEROES Act.
Welch admitted that a $3 trillion price tag on the bill is substantial, but said it is necessary for the federal government to help struggling individuals and businesses.
“If we’re going to come out on the other side, we need a lifeline right now and the only government — and governmental entity — that has the fiscal flexibility, fiscal capacity, to step in and help is the federal government,” he said.
While McConnell and the White House have signaled they are not interested in such an expensive and far reaching bill, on Thursday Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called on the upper chamber to “improve” the HEROES Act.
In a statement, Vermont’s junior senator called on his colleagues to support expanding Medicare for the duration of the crisis, for the federal government to make sure all workers in the U.S. receive a paycheck and to increase the direct cash assistance amount from $1,200 to $2,000 per month.
“This unprecedented crisis demands an unprecedented legislative response. I look forward to working with my colleagues in improving and expanding the House bill before it is considered in the Senate,” Sanders said.
Last week, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who is the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he has been in negotiations with Republicans to include funding for rural broadband buildout in the latest Covid-19 response legislation.
In a statement after the House passed the bill Friday, Leahy called on Senate Republicans and the president to engage in negotiations on the relief package.
“Delay makes no one safer, does nothing to box in the virus, and does nothing to open the economy,” Leahy said.
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