Dear Colleague on Passage of The Heroes Act

Dear Democratic Colleague,

As I have often said, the House Democratic Caucus is a remarkable source of intellect, integrity and courage for the good of the American people. Once again, the excellence of House Democrats was demonstrated in the development, debate and passage of The Heroes Act.

I write to praise not only the dazzling Chairs but all of the Members who gave thoughtful consideration to The Heroes Act. Some in our Caucus proposed that we do more, some less; I think we struck the right balance in our legislation written For The People.

We stand by our three pillars of honoring our heroes with state, local, tribal and territorial support, of opening the economy with testing, tracing, treatment and social distancing, and of putting money in the pockets of the American people.

All of these elements have been supported to a lesser degree in the four previous COVID-19 bills – all of which were bipartisan. In the CARES bill and in the interim Paycheck Protection Program bill, Leader McConnell developed and presented the Senate bills, which we negotiated and passed. Now the House Democrats have presented our proposal to lead to negotiation.

In the debate yesterday, the GOP seemed to think that only when they present a Republican bill, it a good start, but when Democrats go first it is partisan. Quite inconsistent.

As we go forward, I want to point out the important distinction between our two parties.

In the CARES bill, Leader McConnell put in a tax cut for the hedge fund and real estate industries, which was retroactive to years ago and hence not predicated on the coronavirus. It cost about the same amount that The Heroes Act invests in local government.

The entire state, local, tribal and territorial amount in the bill cost much less than the GOP Tax Scam which gave 83 percent of the benefits to the top 1 percent, adding a huge increase to the national debt for our children to pay with no benefit to the economy. The funding in The Heroes Act is much-needed by the American people and serves as a stimulus to the economy.

Yesterday, I heard GOP Members calling for us to ‘take a pause.' House Democrats were clear about the urgent need to fight the virus which isn't taking a pause, allocating assistance for food security to abate hunger which isn't taking a pause, and supporting America's workers as unemployment is sadly not taking a pause.

The Chair of the Federal Reserve, joined by other economic leaders, advocates for us to ‘Think Big' and act now in order to avoid a greater downturn, which would cost even more.

House Democrats should take pride in the monumental accomplishment of passing The Heroes Act. As we proceed, I continue to welcome discussion of how we can succeed in the negotiations. For now, please know of the overwhelmingly response I have received from across country for this legislation, which reflects the needs of the American people and allocates the resources to kill the virus and grow the economy.

To see how your state and community will benefit from investments in state and local governments under The Heroes Act, please go to speaker.gov/heroesact.

Thanks again for the great courage to act upon our values in a unifying spirit For The People.

E Pluribus Unum,

Nancy