Week Ending July 2, 2020

House Passes Massive Transportation Bill; and Senate Action Urgently Needed to Help Fund the Front Lines.

• House Passes $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill; Senate Path Unclear
• Senate Needs to Act Now to Fund the Front Lines
• House Votes to Expand the Affordable Care Act
• Murray Urges $430 Billion for Pandemic Relief to Schools and Child Care

House Passes $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill; Senate Path Unclear

The House of Representatives passed a robust infrastructure bill, the “Moving Forward Act” (H.R. 2), by a vote of 233-188. The chamber spent two days working through hundreds of amendments before sending the package to the Senate for consideration. The largest component of the package is nearly $500 billion for surface transportation projects such as roads, bridges and transit, nearly double the amount approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last July.

• Would Create Many New Jobs by Investing in Broad Infrastructure Needs – H.R. 2 will create millions of good-paying jobs and rebuild highways, bridges, transit, rail, airports, ports and harbors to improve safety, reduce gridlock and put America on a path to zero pollution. The legislation also addresses many other infrastructure needs, including investing in the environment, affordable housing, expanding affordable high-speed Internet to underserved rural and urban communities, and ensuring access to clean water. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, “H.R. 2 takes bold, broad and transformational action to rebuild our infrastructure, while addressing key injustices in America, which have been laid bare by the COVID-19 crisis.”
• Addresses Major Increases in Funding for Infrastructure Needs – In addition to surface transportation, the Moving Forward Act provides:
  
  • $25 billion for drinking water;
  • $100 billion for broadband;
  • $70 billion for clean energy projects;
  • $70 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund so that America’s local Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) can make physical repairs needed to modernize, repair, and retrofit public housing units;
  • $25 billion for the postal service; and
  • $130 billion for school-related projects that are used primarily for instruction in public schools.

What You Need to Know: House passage marks a starting point for negotiations between the House, Senate and the White House on how to shore up the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. The current authorization expires Sept. 30. The Senate has passed a surface transportation bill out of committee and plans to work on the water projects legislation throughout July.

Senate Needs to Act Now to Fund the Front Lines

It has been more than a month and a half since the House passed the “Heroes Act” (H.R. 6800) on May 15. This comprehensive response to the COVID-19 pandemic included more than $1 trillion in critically needed federal fiscal relief to state and local governments through flexible direct grants, significantly enhanced Medicaid funding, and a needed investment for education. The bill also included more funds for testing and public safety. But, since it passed the House, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has ignored it, delaying urgently needed aid to states, cities, towns, counties, schools and families. When Senate Democrats attempted to raise the need for assistance, Republican leaders objected and would only agree to a limited bill extending the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to Aug. 8. The House also approved the PPP extension sending it to the president for his signature, but the Senate has not yet responded to the growing state and local fiscal crisis.

• Serious Economic Consequences – Currently the economy is still in a recession and the COVID-19 pandemic is causing serious problems for families, states, cities, towns and school districts. The economic fallout due to the pandemic has resulted in drastic increases in unemployment and plummeting state and local revenues. According to the Economic Policy Institute, there are now 24.5 million workers who are either officially unemployed or otherwise out of work as a result of the virus. If all these workers were taken into account, the unemployment rate would be a whopping 15.0%, still much higher than any we have seen since the Great Recession. Further, unemployment rates are still much higher for minority communities. Significant job loss has occurred in government jobs with 1.5 million government jobs lost over the past several months.
• Deep State and Local Revenue Losses – States and local governments have sustained deep revenue losses due to the pandemic. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities projects the combined state budget shortfall will be $615 billion over the next three years. And, the National League of Cities projects cities will face a $360 billion revenue loss over the next three years, as more than 70% of cities report they have received no help from the federal government. These revenue shortfalls are threatening our ability to fight COVID-19, provide essential public services and safely reopen the economy. At the same time, communities need services, like unemployment aid, Medicaid and public health investments, more than ever. Without federal assistance, these services will fall short of the growing needs and schools will not be able to keep students and staff safe or promote learning.

What You Need to Know: AFSCME urges that Congress act immediately to provide:

• At least $1 trillion in unrestricted state and local grants to replace lost revenues and continue public services.
• At least a 15-percentage point increase to the federal Medicaid match (FMAP). This provides relief to ensure states can cover millions of newly unemployed Americans needing Medicaid health services.
• At least $200 billion to public K-12 and higher education, including $25 billion to Title I and IDEA.