The COVID-19 relief plan released by the Senate Majority Monday doesn’t do enough to help struggling Ohio families or stabilize the economy.
The Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools (HEALS) Act ignores the hard numbers and the many stories of people struggling to get by. It leaves out substantial aid included in the U.S. House-passed HEROES Act intended to keep public services strong while states and local governments continue to fight waves of COVID-19 outbreaks.
The as-introduced HEALS Act:
DOES NOT: Increase FMAP, or increased Medicaid funding to states
DOES NOT: Raise Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit levels
DOES NOT: Contain funding for homelessness services or additional rental vouchers, or extend the federal eviction moratorium that expired July 24
DOES NOT: Include new fiscal aid for states, cities, counties, tribes, or territories
DOES: Include additional “flexibility” for states — letting them use some CARES Act aid to help offset massive revenue losses
DOES: Does include a second round of $1,200 stimulus payments for qualifying individuals
DOES: Provide some aid for schools. However, the bulk of those funds would be for schools that reopen irrespective of health risks and the funding cannot be used for expenses such as teachers’ salaries
DOES: Drop the federal unemployment-benefit supplement from $600 a week to $200
Ohio has already been forced to make harmful budget cuts to offset losses in revenue triggered by COVID-19. Additional federal funds are necessary to prevent cuts to public services, such as Medicaid and schools, and layoffs for teachers and other public workers.
Th proposed HEALS Act is not enough, and time is running out. We urge Congress to immediately start work on a new compromise COVID-19 relief bill that puts people and the public services we rely on first by:
Increasing food and housing assistance so families can eat and pay rent
Covering more of states’ Medicaid costs
Providing additional aid for child care, K-12 schools and higher education institutions
Increasing aid for states and cities to prevent cuts to services like education and layoffs for public workers
Extending expanded unemployment benefits