Fellow Conservative,

This week brought new information about COVID-19 and with that, new challenges. The team at Heritage Action is thankful for each of you and appreciates everything you are doing for the safety and well-being of our great nation.

To better understand the past week in Washington and our work to advance conservative solutions, we created a day-by-day timeline of events from this past week in Congress.

But before we jump in, do you have questions about the effects of the virus and the actions the government is taking? Check out this easy guide to frequently asked questions (FAQ) about COVID-19 and the proper conservative policy response.
On Monday, the House retroactively made “technical changes” to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act ( H.R. 6201), which it had passed early Saturday morning after working all through Friday night. This was Congress’s second bill to address COVID-19 (phase II). Read our statement after that initial Saturday vote.

While it is common for “technical changes” to be made to a passed bill in order to fix a drafting error or other minor detail, in this case, some of the changes made were substantial. Furthermore, these changes were made by “unanimous consent” (and without a roll call) as the vast majority of House members were back home in their districts. Conservatives should not allow times of crisis to enable broken legislative processes to become a “new normal.”

Still, conservatives in the House won many concessions in the final bill, including a version of an “epidemic tax credit” as proposed by The Heritage Foundation and lobbied for by Heritage Action. This tax credit helps businesses afford to keep employees on their payrolls, enabling workers to collect a paycheck and keep their health insurance during this trying time.
Screen Shot 2020-03-20 at 1.55.44 PM.png

On Tuesday, the Senate considered the House-passed bill.

Heritage Action urged the Senate to capitalize on conservative wins in the House and improve the COVID-19 legislation by expanding the tax credit to apply to all workers who cannot reasonably work from home in an epidemic area or whose place of employment was shut down or significantly impacted by government order or recommendation. Additionally, we called for businesses with over 500 employees to be eligible for the tax credit, expanding the universe of workers who it could benefit.

By approaching the legislation this way, the bill would address the source of the economic shock in a targeted, temporary, and transparent manner while limiting any political abuse that can develop in a moment of crisis.

The principle behind each legislative solution we recommended is to keep the employee tied to the employer. The reason? We want hard working Americans to keep their jobs through this crisis.

On Wednesday, the Senate passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act without making changes to the House-passed version. This avoided the need to recall House members back to Washington to vote on it again, and President Trump signed H.R. 6201 into law later that same day.

Conservatives now have to focus on a third bill (phase III) that is already being negotiated.

The president also invoked the Defense Production Act, which gives him the authority to mobilize domestic products and industry for national defense. He also suspended evictions and foreclosures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development backed housing including public housing and Federal Housing Administration backed mortgages through the end of April.

On Thursday, Senator Mitch McConnell introduced a third coronavirus-related bill: the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This is the starting point for Congress’s phase III response.

Here are some of the main components of the legislation:

  • $500 billion in cash payments to individual Americans.
  • $300 billion in small business loans, which are forgivable if used for payroll purposes.
  • $200 billion in bailouts to select industries.
  • 15% Medicare payment bump to hospitals for coronavirus patients.

From the beginning, Heritage Action has argued legislation to address COVID-19 should follow three guiding principles—it should be:

  1. Targeted in scope.
  2. Temporary in nature.
  3. Focused solely on the impacts of the coronavirus on our health and economy.

Certain provisions in the CARES act do not abide by these three principles. For instance, we should not give $200 billion in bailouts to Washington-picked industries. An immediate solution would be for the government to pre-pay for many of these services for which it already has plans to purchase, such as hotels and airlines. This gives businesses the cash flow needed to keep paying employees and avoids a situation where the government ends up owning a permanent stake in these industries.
Screen Shot 2020-03-20 at 2.23.07 PM.png
Share this on Twitter or Facebook

On Friday, Heritage Action urged Congress to improve the CARES Act by:

  1. Making all businesses eligible for loans for payroll and benefits, regardless of how many employees they employ.
  2. Expanding the tax credit included in the Families First bill to all employers to ensure more lower-income workers for large companies receive paid leave.
  3. Purchasing “gift cards” — i.e. pre-purchasing goods and services, at a discount, which the federal government already plans to use in order to supply liquidity to businesses and save taxpayers money.
  4. Waiving required minimum distribution rules for retirees to ensure the value of their retirement funds is maximized during the market downturn.

In the meantime, House Democrats may attempt to influence the negotiations by dramatically broadening the proposal to be a "whole economy" stimulus package including investments in transportation and rural broadband. This expansion in scope is not acceptable as it violates the “targeted” principle. The final price tag could climb as high as $2.5 trillion if liberal Democrats have their way.
10.png
Share this on Twitter or Facebook

Things are moving fast—we can expect votes on this “phase III” legislation as soon as today but most likely beginning sometime tomorrow (Sunday).

We need your help to urge Congress to pass principled legislation that directly addresses the effects of COVID-19. Email and call your senators and your representative.

As Heritage Action Vice President Jessica Anderson stated:
As the nation continues to grapple with the health and economic consequences of the Coronavirus, Congress is right to react and seek relief for the American people. However, in the urgent negotiations, Congress unfortunately placed onerous paid leave mandates on small businesses in the “Families First” legislation, and it is now proposing to bail out special interests and unrelated industries in the recently unveiled CARES Act. Instead of passing government bailouts, Congress should instead seek to support workers and employers, who are suddenly confronted with government-mandated closures and travel restrictions through no fault of their own.

Email, tweet at, and call your senators and representative.Oppose crony bailouts. Urge Congress to enact legislation that is “targeted, temporary, and focused on helping employees and improving public health.” (See the bullet points in our call script for specific details.)

It is weeks like this that we are all reminded how important it is for Congress to hear the voices of principled conservatives from across America. We are sincerely grateful for your continued support and pray for your health and safety.

Your Heritage Action team

Heritage Action for America | 214 Massachusetts Avenue NE, Suite 400 | Washington, D.C. 20002

You are subscribed to Heritage Action's press e-mails as [email protected]. If you no longer want to receive updates from Heritage Action, please click here to unsubscribe.
-