Scanlon returns to D.C. to work on pandemic relief bill
When U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 of Swarthmore, walks into the U.S. House Rules Committee today, she’ll be wearing an Eagles mask.
“The chairman of the Rules Committee is a Patriots fan,” she said Wednesday of U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-2 of Worcester, Mass., although she expects to don something more formal when she presides over the floor during debate in the afternoon.
Although much of the
congressional legislation-creation work has been virtual so far, she and other House members are returning to the nation’s capital to change the rules of the House to allow for proxy voting and to move “The Heroes Act” forward.
Of the rules, she said, “We’ve been trying to get this done since March ... We’ve already seen they can’t keep it out of the White House.”
The congresswoman said her counterparts continue to take a stance that everything’s perfectly safe to open up.
Because of coronavirus, the committee meeting will be held in the Ways and Means Room because it is one of the few rooms that can safely accommodate the committee and the need to social distance.
Also to be discussed is the Heroes Act, the Health and Economic Recover Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act. The $3 trillion relief bill would provide another $1,200 payment to individuals, including $1,200 for each child, up to $6,000 per household. It includes $500 billion for state governments and $375 billion for local governments with $200 billion set up for a Heroes Fund that would allow essential employers to apply for grants to pay their employees an additional $13 an hour, up to $10,000 per worker.
The $600-per-week pandemic unemployment allotment would continue until January 2021 under this provision.
In it, $75 billion is for COVID testing and contact tracing, and there’s funds for farmers, the post office and child and family care for essential workers.
Republicans have said the measure is “dead on arrival.”
“One stimulus check isn’t enough,” Scanlon said, adding that people deserve the financial and health resources they need to get through this. “We’re trying to get the supplies our communities need to get through the health crisis so we can get to longterm economy recovery.”
Her perspective is that the White House’s approach to reopen the economy is geared for short-term gains with the November election approaching.
She said the Heroes’ Act represents “the things our communities have said they need. The Senate is welcome to get on board. The Senate is welcome to negotiation. It is not acceptable to not do anything.”