Congress is discussing a new Coronavirus stimulus bill. The House passed the HEROES Act (previously known as CARES 2) in May, but Senate Majority Leader McConnell declared it “dead on arrival” in the Senate and will introduce a new package of legislation when the Senate returns from their recess on July 20. The names of the bills change, but there is a consistent set of priorities that will help working families in general, and SHARE members in particular.

We wrote a few weeks ago about the HEROES Act encouraging SHARE members to advocate for front-line workers. This is part of the same campaign for America’s Five Economic Essentials. The details below are provided by our parent union, AFSCME, representing over a million public sector employees across the United States. We are asking SHARE members to help advocate for state and local aid from the federal government.

Urgent Action Needed on State and Local Aid
The next three weeks are absolutely critical to get our message across to Congress about the dire need for additional aid for state and local governments.
We are focused on the Senate, because we need to push the Republican Senate to introduce a package with significant aid. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) earlier this week signaled his intention to introduce a bill by July 20th, when the Senate returns. We need to push right now for any Senate package to include our priorities.
AFSCME urges that Congress act immediately to provide significant state and local aid:
- At least $1 trillion in unrestricted state and local grants to replace lost revenues and continue public services.
- At least a 14-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.