Congress Should Stabilize The American Economy – Both Now And Later 

by Ben Ritz, Director for Center for Funding America's Future

At the end of next month, several economic support programs created by the CARES Act in March will expire. House Democrats have moved to extend and expand these supports through January 2021 with the $3 trillion HEROES Act. Senate Republicans, however, have used fiscal cost as a pretext to oppose or scale back this and other potential future stimulus measures. The stakes are high: allowing the CARES Act programs to expire would reduce the incomes of up to 30 million unemployed Americans by more than half overnight and cut off lending programs that have helped otherwise healthy businesses stay afloat during the crisis. Fortunately, there is an opportunity for lawmakers to strike a bipartisan compromise that supports our economy in a fiscally responsible way.