Americans for Tax Reform sent a letter to the Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee urging members to consider policy proposals that will further stimulate economic growth beyond government assistance in the form of loans and grants to business and Americans.
Last week, House Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), unveiled a roughly $3 trillion bill to combat the effects of the healthcare emergency. Much of the news coverage has been favorable of the legislation and has been highlighted as a victory for healthcare workers and providing more funding for more COVID-19 testing. But Pelosi is pushing a bill that follows her previous playbook of using the emergency as an opportunity to advance progressive priorities that have nothing to do with the protecting Americans’ health.
In fact, Pelosi’s “Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act’’ or ‘‘HEROES Act’’ includes similar provisions that were left out of her version of the “Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act” – the precursor bill she used to negotiate with the Senate before both chambers finalized the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, otherwise known as the CARES Act that was signed into law by President Trump on March 27th.
Included in the Pelosi proposal is a $25 billion-dollar bailout for the US Postal Service and a rewriting of election law to permit voting by mail while ignoring the multiple documented cases of fraud and abuse of mail-in voting. Pelosi plans to move the legislation quickly for a vote in the House and use the bill’s passage as a negotiating point with the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) has already indicated that the Senate does not yet see the need to move another multi-trillion dollar relief bill, and if there is a need, the push for Senate legislation will occur in June.
While McConnell is willing to consider fiscal restraint before another large spending bill, Congress should also consider legislative proposals that will rapidly spur economic growth. As several relief focused legislative packages have been enacted with broad bipartisan backing to provide support for Americans, state and federal regulators have played an important role in alleviating businesses from burdensome regulations that have allowed their operations to swiftly respond and innovate to meet the demands of the public.
Several states and cities are also taking a tiered approach of introducing small steps to allow some businesses to re-open for commerce. This provides a unique opportunity to codify pro-growth regulatory initiatives and for Congress to consider policies that will help jump-start the economy and allow businesses of all sizes the flexibility to meet the needs of customers, taxpayers and the general public for years to come.
Once the emergency of COVID-19 has subsided, Congress will play an important role in considering legislation that helps Americans return to their jobs and their roles in the community. As such, it is important to preserve or enact policy solutions that help ensure our nation’s financial institutions can continue function properly and provide the economic certainty and fulfillment Americans need to reenter a labor market ready to re-open.
Click here to review our letter.