Sign the petition: Tell your senators to vote for the HEROES Act COVID-19 relief bill and help millions of people connect to phone and internet services during this pandemic and beyond.

Friend,

Great news: Late last week, the House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act,¹ the next stimulus package for coronavirus relief. Among other important measures, the bill — which Free Press Action helped shape — pledges billions of dollars to help people access affordable phone and internet services, and the lifesaving information these connections can provide during this global health crisis.

If signed into law, the HEROES Act would be a major step forward in supporting low-income communities — and closing the digital divide. But before it can provide desperately needed relief, it has to get past Mitch McConnell and his Senate Republicans. Your senators need to hear from you before they vote on this important legislation: Tell them to fight for the HEROES Act.

The HEROES Act would help people access essential information and services during the coronavirus pandemic by:

• Providing an emergency benefit of up to $50 a month for broadband access, available to people in the FCC’s Lifeline program and to those who have lost jobs or income due to the current crisis.
• Making it unlawful for internet providers to shut off service to individuals and small businesses, or impose data caps and overage fees during the COVID-19 emergency.
• Driving down call rates to and from prisons, jails and detention centers to no more than 4 to 5 cents per minute, and restoring the FCC’s authority to regulate all prison and jail phone-call rates.

The same communities that are cut off from affordable communication services are also suffering the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tell your senators today: We need the HEROES Act now.

The HEROES Act goes further than nearly any other legislation ever has to get and keep people connected to the phone and internet services they need to work from home, apply for unemployment, receive vital health information, access telehealth appointments, access education for their children and stay in contact with loved ones.

But so far Mitch McConnell has refused to even look at the bill. That’s why we need to make sure that senators are hearing directly from you — their constituents — about just how important the HEROES Act is.

Even before this pandemic hit, internet prices were so high that 22% of U.S. households didn’t have home internet — including more than 4 million households with school-aged children. And low-income Black and Latinx households have long been even less likely to have home internet than their low-income white counterparts.

Similarly, the cost to make a phone call in or out of prisons, jails, and detention centers has always been far too high, forcing many families of incarcerated people to choose between paying their bills and staying connected with their loved ones.

Since the pandemic began, these problems have deepened as millions of people have lost their jobs and in-person visits to prisons and jails have been banned. Please tell your senators: We need the HEROES Act to pass.

Thanks for all you do,

Lucia and the rest of the Free Press Action team
freepress.net

P.S. Affordable internet and phone services are crucial lifelines during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. The HEROES Act would help people stay connected: Urge your senators to pass this legislation.

1. “House Passes the HEROES Act, Providing Billions in Emergency Funds for Expanded Broadband Connectivity,” Free Press Action, May 15, 2020