Tell Senator Pat Toomey and Senator Bob Casey —

“Support and advance the Heroes Act! Pennsylvania desperately needs a bold, comprehensive coronavirus response bill that provides economic support to our state and local governments, and that protects the lives and livelihoods of Pennsylvanians!”

The Heroes Act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday, May 16, and it now awaits action in the Senate. The bill addresses the unprecedented health and economic crises our nation faces with measures substantial enough both to provide strong support for the economy — and thereby lessening the severity and duration of the deep recession — and to ease hardship significantly for tens of millions of Americans, including millions of Pennsylvanians who are in increasingly desperate straits.

In the absence of such a package, important relief provisions enacted since March will expire much too soon, and state and local governments — which face huge revenue shortfalls in Pennsylvania's new fiscal year beginning on July 1 — will be compelled to institute massive budget cuts or tax increases and lay off large numbers of teachers and other employees, making the downturn substantially worse than it already is.

Please take a moment to send a message to our senators, letting them know that you expect them to support the Heroes Act!

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OVERVIEW OF KEY PROVISIONS OF THE HEROES ACT

• Establishes Heroes Fund for essential workers with $200 billion to ensure that essential workers who have risked their lives working during the pandemic receive hazard pay.

• Honors our heroes by providing nearly $1 trillion to state, local, territorial and tribal governments who desperately need funds to pay vital workers like first responders, health workers, and teachers who keep us safe and are in danger of losing their jobs.

• Establishes a Heroes Fund for essential workers with $200 billion to ensure that essential workers who have risked their lives working during the pandemic receive hazard pay.

• Supports testing, tracing, and treatment by providing another $75 billion for coronavirus testing, contact tracing, and isolation measures, ensuring every American can access free coronavirus treatment, and supporting hospitals and providers.

• Provides additional direct payments, cushioning the economic blow of the coronavirus crisis with a second round of more substantial economic impact payments of $1,200 per family member, up to $6,000 per household.

• Protects payrolls by enhancing the new employee retention tax credit that encourages employers to keep employees on payroll, allowing 60 million Americans to remain connected to their paychecks and benefits.

• Ensures worker safety by requiring OSHA to issue a strong, enforceable standard within seven days to require all workplaces to develop and implement infection control plans based on CDC expertise, and prevents employers from retaliating against workers who report infection control problems.

• Supports small businesses and nonprofits by strengthening the Payroll Protection Program to ensure that it reaches underserved communities and nonprofits of all sizes and types, and responds flexibly to small businesses by providing $10 billion for COVID-19 emergency grants through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

• Preserves health coverage by protecting Americans losing their employer-provided health insurance with COBRA subsidies to maintain their coverage and creating a special enrollment period in the ACA exchanges for uninsured Americans.

• Extends unemployment benefits, ensuring weekly $600 federal unemployment payments through next January, providing a vital safety net for the record number of Americans who are unemployed.

• Bolsters housing assistance, helping struggling families afford a safe place to live with $175 billion in new supports to assist renters and homeowners make monthly rent, mortgage payments, utility payments, and other housing-related costs.

• Strengthens food security, addressing rising hunger with a 15 percent increase to the maximum SNAP benefit and additional funding for nutrition programs that help families put food on the table.

• Safeguards our democracy with new resources to ensure safe elections, an accurate Census, and preserve the Postal Service.