releases: https://sablan.house.gov/heroes-vs-heals-you-decide
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://sablan.house.gov/heroes-vs-heals-you-decide | HEROES vs HEALS - you decide | 2020-08-03 | 2020 | 2020-08 | Democrat | House | MP | Gregorio Sablan | S001177 | sablan.house.gov | legacy | Republicans have finally put forward their response to the HEROES Act the House passed in May to keep helping everyone get through the coronavirus crisis. Some key takeaways and contrasts between the House-passed bill, HEROES Act, and what Republicans call the HEALS Act. Unemployment.. The Republican HEALS Act proposal will cut Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation from $600 to $200 per week for workers laid off in the Marianas and around the country. The Democratic HEROES Act keeps FPUC at $600 at least through the end of January 2021. The HEALS Act also counts both the FPUC and the $345 per week Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, PUA, as income. That means the Republican proposal would disqualify some unemployed workers and their families from income-based Medicaid insurance and the Children's Health Insurance Program. More stimulus checks The Democratic HEROES Act allows income tax payers to collect another $1,200 economic impact payment, whether they file using a Social Security number or the alternative Individual Tax Identification Number, or ITIN. The Republican HEALS Act bars those who use the ITIN. The Democratic HEROES Act also, retroactively, makes families with college students or adult dependents eligible for $500 for each of these dependents. The Republican HEROES Act does not. Schools To get federal assistance under the Republican HEALS Act, kindergartens, elementary, and high schools would have to reopen fully, regardless of local conditions, putting the health of students, teachers, and staff at risk. The Republican bill offers $70 billion. The Democratic HEROES Act allows local authorities to run local schools and make reopening decisions. Together with school funding in the Moving Forward Act, H.R. 2, House Democrats have approved $200 billion to help the Marianas and schools nationwide keep teaching, one way or another, during the pandemic. The Democratic HEROES Act also provides $8 billion more for colleges than the Republican HEALS Act, which fails to extend the payment and interest moratorium for federal student loan borrowers, due to expire at the end of September. Aid to local government The Democratic HEROES Act recognizes the huge hit to state and territorial government revenues, as long as the coronavirus is out of control. The Commonwealth would receive $2.14 billion in general revenues, one-quarter of which would keep schools in operation. Cuts to retirees and essential services could be restored. And the funds remain available until expended, which is necessary because our tourism-based economy is not likely to recover until visitors can be tested comfortably and quickly and there is renewed willingness to risk air travel. The Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Northern Islands municipalities would share about $29 million in the HEROES Act. The Republican HEALS Act contains no money to replace lost state, territorial, or municipal revenues. Small Business Small businesses would have less flexibility to stay afloat under the Republican HEALS Act. The Democratic HEROES Act extends the Paycheck Protection Program, which 476 Marianas businesses are participating in, to the end of 2020. And the HEROES Act gives these businesses 24 weeks to use PPP money (up from the original 8 weeks) and eliminates the requirement that 60 percent of PPP money go towards labor costs. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |