US House Passes Second Coronavirus Relief Bill, ‘HEROES Act’ Worth $3 Trillion

The US House of Representatives passed the country’s second COVID-19 relief bill on Friday, a massive proposal that includes $3 trillion in aid for local governments, farmers, health care workers, students burdened by education debt and Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Although House Republicans rallied against the huge spending bill, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act still passed by a vote of 208 for and 199 against.

The roughly 1,800-page bill is actually the fifth piece of major legislation passed by Congress to address problems created by the COVID-19 crisis. While others have aimed at buttressing specific sectors of the economy, such as agriculture and health care, the HEROES Act is just the second to promise stimulus checks to American families. The first, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, was passed on March 27 and included $2 trillion in funding, including checks of up to $1,200 for US residents.

Also included in the HEROES Act are $1 trillion in aid to state and local governments; $10 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); $3.6 billion in grants to states for contingency planning; funding to support an expansion of COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and treatment, according to the White House’s national testing strategy; financial support for qualified renters and homeowners to help them avoid evictions and foreclosures; and an extension of $600-per-week unemployment benefits through January of next year.

The bill has been attacked from both sides, as conservatives rally against another huge spending bill and progressives charge that the bill’s measures don’t go nearly far enough. For example, one amendment introduced by Democrats drastically restricted the scope of student loan forgiveness for which it provides, even though it was Democrats who initially introduced the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who leads the upper house’s Republicans, has said Congress needs to “push the pause button” before moving forward with “this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments.” He told Fox News on Thursday that Senate Republicans would only agree to support a bill after negotiations with Trump.

Sourse: sputniknews.com