DOCSLIB.ORG

Special Report Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Special Report Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview Special Report Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview Updated November 17, 2020 Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview Table of Contents Introduction 1 Lame Duck Preview 1 FY 2021 Appropriations ............................................................................................................................................. 1 COVID Relief............................................................................................................................................................... 2 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) ............................................................................................................. 2 National Defense Authorization Act .......................................................................................................................... 3 Energy Package .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Broadband and Telecommunications ........................................................................................................................ 4 Policing Overhaul ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Tax Extenders............................................................................................................................................................. 5 2020 Election Results Overview 7 The Administration .................................................................................................................................................... 7 The Electoral College………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 The House of Representatives ................................................................................................................................... 9 The Senate ............................................................................................................................................................... 11 Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview 1 Introduction Updated: The Senate returned to Washington on Monday, November 9th, and the House of Representatives (“House”) returned on November 16th to begin the final legislative days of the outgoing 116th Congress – also referred to as a “lame duck session.” Congress is expected to adjourn by December 18th. With this schedule, the Senate will be in session for 24 legislative days and the House for 13 legislative days. With limited workdays, there is a narrow timeframe for Congress to pass several important pieces of legislation, including final FY 2021 appropriations bills, another COVID relief package, the Water Resources Development Act, the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, and more. This NATaT Special Report provides an overview of the major remaining legislative items Congress may tackle before wrapping up this session of Congress. NATaT’s Special Report also provides an initial overview of the November 3rd election results and their impact on the House and Senate, Congressional leadership, and key committee leadership races. NATaT will continue to provide updates as we learn more about the election results and subsequent committee assignments/leadership. We will also provide additional updates on lame duck activities between now and when Congress adjourns. Updated portions of the Report are flagged. Lame Duck Preview FY 2021 Appropriations – updated To date, Congress has not enacted any of the 12 annual appropriations bills. The House passed 10 of 12 spending bills in July through two spending packages; however, the Senate has not advanced any of its bills through the appropriations committee - on November 10th, the Senate Appropriations Committee released all 12 of its FY 2021 Appropriations bills and explanatory statements. On October 1st, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law a Continuing Resolution (CR), P.L. 116-159, extending government funding at current FY 2020 levels through December 11th. H.R. 7608: The House’s four-bill spending package that covers Agriculture-FDA, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-VA, and State and Foreign Operations spending. The House passed this package by a 224-189 vote on July 24th with no Republican support. A TFG Brief on H.R. 7608 is available here. Senate Republicans disagreed with the legislation’s plan to offer amendments to include in the bill additional coronavirus relief and policing and law enforcement policies. President Trump threatened to veto the spending package. H.R. 7617: The House’s six-bill appropriations package includes Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Energy and Water, Financial Services, Labor-HHS-Education, and Transportation-HUD spending. H.R. 7617 passed by a 217-197 vote on July 31st without any Republican support. This bill includes a few major policy provisions, such as a requirement for local governments to institute policing policy changes, including a chokehold ban; and an additional $210 billion in emergency spending on top of regular appropriations. A TFG Brief on H.R. 7617 is available here. Senate Republicans opposed the additional coronavirus response funding and policing measures included in the bill. The White House also threatened to veto this measure, criticizing the emergency spending and policing policy riders. Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview 2 Lame Duck Outlook: House and Senate disagreements over both the spending numbers and policy provisions will require considerable negotiation between Congressional leaders in order to reach a compromised final spending package and one that will be signed into law by the President. It is expected that the current ongoing negotiations over the next coronavirus relief package will take priority over passing FY 2021 appropriations bills. In turn, there is a significant likelihood that Congress will pass another CR to fund the federal agencies into 2021. COVID Relief The election results will directly impact ongoing discussions and negotiations related to the next coronavirus relief package, but exactly how so remains unclear. So far this year, Congress has passed three major coronavirus relief packages: (1) the “Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020” (P.L. 116-123), which was signed into law on March 6th; (2) the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act” (P.L. 116-127), which was signed into law on March 18th; and the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act” (P.L. 116-136), which was signed into law on March 27th. Since March, numerous proposals have been introduced and considered in both the House and Senate, but months of negotiation between Congressional leaders and the White House has yet to result in a fourth coronavirus relief package, despite all parties agreeing that another relief package is needed. Lame Duck Outlook: Right now, it is unclear if Congress will be able to approve another coronavirus relief package before the end of the year. The elections themselves slowed down negotiations between Congressional leaders and the White House, but in the days leading up to Election Day, it seemed several major issues were already hindering the ongoing negotiations. On October 29th, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who has been leading the negotiations on behalf of Congressional Democrats, sent a letter to the White House’s principal relief package negotiator, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, stating that Congress is still awaiting draft legislative language and/or responses on several issues “of critical importance,” including testing, tracing and treatment, state and local funding, schools, child care, earned income and child tax credits, unemployment insurance, OSHA, and liability. In response, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin expressed that the White House has been negotiating in good faith on these provisions, but said the Speaker has “refused to compromise” on many of these major items, including additional funding for state and local governments. On November 4th, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he wants to pass a coronavirus relief package by the end of the year, but he maintained that the House-passed HEROES Act (H.R. 6800) (including the slimmed-down “2.0” version totaling $2.2 trillion passed on October 1) is too costly and includes too many provisions that are not directly related to the pandemic. Many Congressional Republicans have expressed concern with the cost of not only with the HEROES Act and HEROES 2.0 but also with the most recent proposal from the White House, which totaled approximately $1.8 trillion. House Speaker Pelosi and Congressional Democrats remain committed to approving another package by the end of the year, as does the White House, but it is unclear if all sides will be able to come to an agreement on both cost and policy in short order, especially as many election outcomes are still unclear. Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) House and Senate WRDA bills would authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to carry out a two-year roadmap of water infrastructure projects. Lame Duck Preview & 2020 Election Results Overview 3 H.R. 7575: The “Water Resources Development Act” would make available $10 billion from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to address repair needs of the nation’s largest ports and the Great Lakes harbors, as well as other ports. It would direct funds for 38 new projects
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Covid Update Template
    Daily Update on the Coronavirus Outbreak November 16th, 2020 INFORMS Members In The News • Covid-19 Vaccines Could Depend on the Strength of This Vial (The Wall Street Journal) INFORMS Member: Anna Nagurney • Covid-19 Vaccines Could Depend on the Strength of This Vial (Trade TicKer) INFORMS Member: Anna Nagurney • Chicago has a lot of cold storage space. But will it be cold enough to support a COVID-19 vaccine rollout? (Chicago Tribune) INFORMS Member: Tinglong Dai • This Is Why the COVID-19 Vaccine Is Going to Take Longer Than You ThinK (Livestrong) INFORMS Member: Anna Nagurney Federal Policy Update • President-elect Joe Biden urged Congress to pass another coronavirus relief pacKage during his remarKs today, staUng that they “should come together and pass a COVID relief pacKage liKe the HEROES Act that the House passed six months ago.” • Assistant Health Secretary Bre[ Giroir announced that the federal government would distribute 50 million point-of-care COVID-19 tests in an effort to Keep schools open. • PharmaceuUcal company Moderna stated that its coronavirus vaccine candidate was 95% effecUve in their late-stage trials. Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar lauded Moderna’s candidate, staUng that it was “more flexible” than the one currently under producUon by Pfizer, which requires special refrigeraUon. • The Centers for Disease Control & PrevenUon announced that members of their ImmunizaUon Advisory Commi[ee would meet next Monday, November 23rd to determine best pracUces for distribuUon of a coronavirus vaccine – including the priority with which the vaccine should be received. • RepresentaUves Cheri Bustos (D-IL) and Tim Walberg (D-MI) have tested posiUve for coronavirus.
    [Show full text]
  • Mounting Peril for Public Higher Education During the Coronavirus Pandemic by Victoria Yuen June 11, 2020
    Mounting Peril for Public Higher Education During the Coronavirus Pandemic By Victoria Yuen June 11, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has led to the most difficult semester in generations on college campuses across the United States. With that semester now wrapping up, public colleges and universities are facing costs that already dwarf the $7.6 billion in federal stimulus funds that are on their way to these institutions.1 Absent dra- matic new action from Congress, many of the public colleges that support social mobility will confront an existential threat. In just one example of the brutal math that college leaders are facing, Rutgers University—a public university system serving more than 71,000 students—has spent $50 million to refund students for unused campus services such as dining, housing, and parking as a direct result of the pandemic.2 In addition, the univer- sity system will lose $60 million resulting from canceled surgical procedures at Rutgers medical centers.3 On top of that, the Rutgers system is losing another $73 million in state appropriations for the extended fiscal year that ends on September 30, 2020, after Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) announced a state spending freeze.4 Rutgers will get some of its lost state appropriations back as Gov. Murphy has decided to give $68.8 million from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund portion of the CARES Act back to New Jersey’s higher education institu- tions; how much they will receive is yet to be determined.5 That adds up to at least a $183 million hit to Rutgers’ budget just through the end of June.
    [Show full text]
  • ASE Lobbyist Confernce Federal Update Chris Rogers September
    ASE Lobbyist Conference Federal Update Chris Rogers November 2020 Overview ■ Biden Transition (5-step plan to reopen schools) □ Controlling the Virus □ National Safety Guidelines □ Emergency Funding for Public Schools □ High-Quality Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic □ COVID-19 Educational Equity Gap ■ Biden K-12 Education Proposals & Outlook ■ Lame Duck Session □ FY 2021 Appropriations □ COVID 5 2 Controlling the Virus Implement nationwide testing-and-tracing, including doubling the number of drive- Implement through testing sites; Establish a sustainable supply chain for PPE, including fully utilizing the Defense Establish Production Act to ensure enough masks are for every school in America every day; Protect Protect older Americans and others at high-risk populations; Provide Provide schools and small businesses with the resources they need to reopen safely. 3 National Safety Guidelines ■ Biden agrees with AASA, schools in areas with high levels of COVID-19 community spread should not be compelled to reopen against the judgement of local experts. Currently, current lack of clarity is paralyzing for schools. ■ Biden plans to support the efforts of Local Education Agencies by issuing federal reopening guidelines that answer basic questions many school systems have. 1. How low does the community infection rate need to be to reopen and at what point should schools shut down again if cases rise? 2. What are safe maximum class sizes? 3. 4If schools cannot accommodate everyone, who should return to the classroom first? Emergency Funding for Public Schools Biden’s 3rd step is to provide additional funding to public schools to contend with the coronavirus outbreak. Thus far, Biden has requested the following aid to support LEA’s reopening strategies.
    [Show full text]
  • Congressional Record—House H2286
    H2286 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 27, 2020 I am not blaming the Republicans for least danger while packing infected pa- to poverty. So how does it follow the what is happening. I am not blaming tients into nursing homes where it science to destroy the livelihoods of the Democrats for what is happening. I poses the greatest danger? millions of Americans, cut them off am blaming people who hold public Once epidemiologists began sur- from their social networks, force them trust and tolerate hate and invidious veying general populations, they dis- into isolation, and plunge them into discrimination. covered the disease isn’t nearly as se- poverty and despair? We are the people who can make a vere as the claims that set off the glob- Now, I don’t blame public health offi- difference, and we ought to make a dif- al panic. Researchers at Stanford Uni- cials. They have the luxury of ignoring ference. We ought to demand that the versity surveyed the population of the effect of their policies beyond their people running for public office make Santa Clara, California, and estimated area of expertise. The responsibility public statements about how they plan a fatality rate of seventeen one-hun- rests, rather, with public officials who to end invidious discrimination, not dredths of 1 percent. New York serol- failed to consider the catastrophic col- how they plan to tolerate it, how they ogy tests revealed a fatality rate of lateral damage that they have caused, plan to manage it. one-half of 1 percent. who became so drunk with power and How do you plan to end it? So, simply stated, if you get the flu, so besotted with self-righteousness How do you plan to end it in bank- your chance of survival is 99.9 percent; that they lost any reference to com- ing? and according to these studies, if you mon sense or any concern for the dam- How do you plan to end it in hiring get COVID–19, your chance of survival age they have done.
    [Show full text]
  • Heroes Act] Title-By-Title Summary
    [H.R. xxxx, The Heroes Act] Title-By-Title Summary [House Democrats’ bold, transformative legislation meets the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic, increasing aid for state, local, and tribal governments on the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis; extending unemployment insurance benefits; and providing more direct payments to Americans.] DIVISION A – Coronavirus Recovery Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 Prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Appropriations Title I – Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – Provides $10 billion to support anticipated increases in participation and to cover program cost increases related to flexibilities provided to SNAP by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) – Provides an additional $1.1 billion to provide access to nutritious foods to low-income pregnant women or mothers with young children who lose their jobs or are laid off due to the COVID-19 emergency. The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) – Includes $150 million to help local food banks meet increased demand for low-income Americans during the emergency. Including funding provided by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), TEFAP has received a total of $1 billion. Child Nutrition Programs – Includes $3 billion in additional funding to provide emergency financial relief to school meal providers and USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program. Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network program – Provides $20 million to strengthen activities and services that connect farmers and ranchers to stress assistance resources and programs.
    [Show full text]
  • Heroes Act 2.0: Key Funding and Provisions of Interest to Aplu Institutions
    HEROES ACT 2.0: KEY FUNDING AND PROVISIONS OF INTEREST TO APLU INSTITUTIONS On September 28, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Democrats introduced the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act 2.0, their updated Phase IV COVID-19 relief bill. The $2.2 trillion package, more than $1 trillion below the original HEROES Act passed this past May, would provide relief for state and local governments, healthcare workers, K-12 and institutions of higher education, small businesses, federal agencies, and other critical segments of the economy impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. See bill text, section by section summary, one-pager, and state and local relief provisions. Of particular note, HEROES 2.0 would provide $39 billion to institutions of higher education, approximately $2 billion above what is included in the HEROES Act, but far below the higher education community’s updated request of $120 billion to cover reopening costs, address substantial losses and expenses of institutions, and provide support to students. The additional higher education funding in HEROES 2.0 is targeted toward HBCUs and MSIs. HEROES 2.0 also includes $3 billion in research relief funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and an additional $1 billion for NIH to expand COVID-19 research. In a positive change from the original HEROES Act, HEROES 2.0 would appropriate $2.9 billion to the National Science Foundation to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, including to fund research grants, extensions of existing research grants, cooperative agreements, scholarships, and fellowships. Unfortunately, the bill does not include research relief funding for other federal science agencies.
    [Show full text]
  • Heroes Act: Revenue Provisions
    Heroes Act: Revenue Provisions Updated October 26, 2020 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov R46358 Heroes Act: Revenue Provisions ongress continues to consider proposals intended to alleviate the economic effects associated with the Coronavirus Disease 2019, or COVID-19, pandemic. One such Cproposal, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act (H.R. 6800), was introduced in the House on May 12, 2020, and passed by the House on May 15, 2020.1 To date, the Senate has not considered H.R. 6800. A revised version of The Heroes Act (H.R. 8406) was introduced on September 29, 2020. The House adopted the revised version of the Heroes Act on October 1, 2020, as a House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 925. Division F of H.R. 8406 (adopted as H.R. 925), or the COVID-19 Tax Relief Act of 2020, contains a number of individual and business tax provisions, including a one-time direct payment to eligible individuals; enhanced benefits and/or expanded eligibility for the earned income tax credit (EITC), child tax credit, and child and dependent care tax credit, and suspension of the limitation on the deduction for state and local taxes paid; expanded utilization options for certain employee health and dependent care benefits; expansions of tax credits for paid sick leave and paid family leave; tax benefits for businesses and employers, including tax credits for employers retaining and hiring employees in businesses subject to COVID-19-related interruptions and deductibility of expenses financed by forgiven Paycheck Protection Program loans; and a permanent limitation on using noncorporate business losses to offset nonbusiness income, and reduced ability to carry back recent net operating losses.
    [Show full text]
  • Emergency Legal Preparedness: COVID-19
    COVID-19 Emergency Legal Preparedness Primer As of September 10, 2020 James G. Hodge, Jr., J.D., L.L.M. Peter Kiewit Foundation Professor of Law Director, Western Region Office, Network for Public Health Law ASU and Day O’Connor College of Law [email protected] Contents ❑ COVID-19 Epi Trends ❑ Emergency Legal Preparedness/ Response/Recovery Federal | State | Tribal | Local ❑ Public Health Emergency Powers ❑ Constitutional & Other Challenges ❑ Additional Resources/Ask the Network 2 COVID-19 Confirmed Cases & Deaths Global Cases 27.5 million | Deaths: 897,789 U.S. Cases 6.35 million | Deaths: 189,500 U.S. Stats 23% all cases | 21% all deaths 3 3 Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html Emerging Epi & Medical Trends Asymptomatic persons Antibodies may be insufficient to could account for 40-45% of ward off additional infections infections spread Multiple potential vaccines are COVID-19 can cause milder in Phase III clinical trials for outpatient illnesses among young 4 safety & efficacy adults & others Emergency Declarations Public health authorities & powers vary depending on the type of emergency declared at every level of government WHO Public Health Emergency Declarations International Emergency of Int’l Concern by Foreign Governments January 30, 2020 Ongoing Stafford Act or National HHS Public Health Federal Emergencies Act Emergency Emergency or Public Health State/Tribal Disaster Emergency Emergency or Public Local Disaster Health 5 Emergency Federal Emergencies/Invocations HHS National PREP Stafford Defense HHS Public Emer- Act Act Production Health gencies Declar- Emergency Act Emergency ation Act Jan. Feb. Mar. Mar. Mar. 31 4 13 13 20 6 6 6 HHS Public Health Emergency Jan.
    [Show full text]
  • CED Public Policy Watch No. 8
    CED Public Policy Watch No. 8 May 15, 2020 In this Brief: 1. UPDATE ON CONGRESSIONAL ACTION 2. UPDATE ON CARES ACT RELIEF SPENDING TO DATE: PPP + Relief Checks 3. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR JAY POWELL SPEAKS 4. VACCINE UPDATES 5. TRADE AND COVID-19 6. UPDATE ON US REOPENING: Overview, CDC Guidelines, Wisconsin, New York, Reopening Technologies 7. SPOTLIGHT ON REOPENING: SOUTH KOREA (+ follow-up on Germany) 1. UPDATE ON CONGRESSIONAL ACTION House Democrats released a new COVID-19 relief bill proposal on Tuesday (the “HEROES Act”), which is expected to be voted on today along partisan lines. This will be the first vote on a COVID-19 relief bill that will not have strong bipartisan support. There is no formal cost estimate for the bill but, as written, it is estimated to be an additional $3 trillion which would likely more than double the spending authorized for COVID-19 relief to date. The House bill is viewed as the Democrats’ opening bid to help shape and size additional relief measures. Republicans in the Senate and the White House have argued that more of the already enacted relief dollars should be distributed, and the impact of those dollars should be assessed, before taking additional legislative action, and have suggested their own priorities for future legislation, including expanded liability protections for businesses and cuts in capital gains and payroll taxes. The provisions of the House bill include: • State and local aid o Nearly $1 trillion in fiscal aid to state ($500 billion) and local ($375 billion) governments, tribes ($20 billion), and territories ($20 billion).
    [Show full text]
  • COVID-19 Compilation
    COVID-19 Compilation September 28, 2020 Iowa At 10 a.m. Monday, the state was reporting 1,317 COVID-19-related deaths, an increase of two deaths since the state's tally at 10 a.m. Sunday, according to the state's Coronavirus.Iowa.gov website. The state was reporting at 10 a.m. Monday that there are 86,840 confirmed cases of coronavirus, an increase of 611 since 10 a.m. Sunday. The state has been changing how it reports testing data, which has caused spikes in the rate of positive data. Before the changes, the state was consistently reporting a positivity rate, that is, the percentage of tests that were positive, below 10%. Iowa also is now counting the results of antigen tests, a relatively rapid type of coronavirus tests, that will increase the reported rates of infection in some counties. On Monday, the state was reporting 11.0% positive since the pandemic started. Of the tests the state has reported since 10 a.m. Sunday, 8.3% were positive, according to a Des Moines Register analysis. Iowa's 14-day average was 9.0% positive, according to the state. These were the Iowa counties that had 14-day averages above 15%: Sioux (29.6%); Lyon (26.0%); Henry (24.5%); Osceola (24.4%); Crawford (19.0%); Plymouth (18.0%); Fremont (18.0%); Delaware (17.2%); Sac (16.8%); Dubuque (16.3%); Woodbury (15.5%); Palo Alto (15.4%) O'Brien (15.4%); Winnebago (15.1%). Gov. Kim Reynolds has ordered that at least 50% of instruction at Iowa schools must be held in person.
    [Show full text]
  • Senate Section (PDF 658KB)
    E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 116 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020 No. 95 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Friday, May 22, 2020, at 11 a.m. Senate WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020 The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was RECOGNIZING THE DAILY IOWAN and we are working for the American called to order by the President pro Mr. GRASSLEY. Journalists, as we people. All month, we have been in ses- tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). all know, serve as the watchdog for ac- sion, passing national security legisla- f countability, particularly to keep gov- tion, confirming key nominees, and holding hearings on the coronavirus PRAYER ernment responsible. These journalists inform and investigate issues impor- crisis and the effectiveness of the his- The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- tant to their readers, from human in- toric rescue package the Senate wrote fered the following prayer: terests to public interests. Right now, and the Senate passed. Let us pray. We are heeding medical guidance and Heavenly Father, today, restore in a lot of focus is upon the COVID–19 pandemic. taking new precautions, but we are our lawmakers faith in the ultimate showing up and getting things done. triumph of Your plan for our Nation The University of Iowa’s independent Over across the Rotunda, in the and world. Help them to realize that newspaper, the Daily Iowan, has been House, crickets—their lights are off.
    [Show full text]
  • HEROES Act - H.R
    Fact Sheet: Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act - H.R. 6800) To date, two comprehensive stimulus bills have been passed by Congress and signed by the President to address the Coronavirus pandemic. The first is called The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201 - Families First Act). The second is the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (H.R. 748 - CARES) Act. On May 15, the House of Representatives passed a third comprehensive stimulus bill called the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act (HEROES Act – H.R. 6800) by a vote of 208 – 199 and largely along party lines. The bill will now move to the Senate where Senate leadership will begin negotiations. • Hazard Pay: The HEROES Act provides $200 billion in funding for “pandemic premium pay” that employers could use to pay essential workers an additional $13 per hour for the time they have worked from Jan. 27, 2020, until 60 days after the last day of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Employers would have to apply for grants from the government to pass that pay premium on to their employees. There is a cap imposed of $10,000 per worker. The definition of which workers are eligible for premium pay is broadly defined. Includes public and private employees. • Worker Safety and Access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): - OSHA Enforceable Standard: The HEROES Act requires issuance of an OSHA emergency temporary standard to protect from occupational exposure to airborne infectious disease within 7 days of enactment of the bill. The bill also requires that a permanent standard be issued within two years of enactment.
    [Show full text]