Why Are Republicans in Harrisburg sitting on $1B in CARES Act relief?

It’s been over six months since Congress passed the CARES Act to provide $2 trillion in immediate relief to Americans suffering through the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the CARES Act, Pennsylvania received $3.9 billion in Coronavirus Relief Funds to address critical needs of the commonwealth, and the General Assembly worked with Governor Tom Wolf throughout the spring and summer to appropriate and distribute $2.6 billion of those dollars to nursing homes, health care providers, schools, childcare facilities, county governments, and small businesses. Employers were able to apply for grants to pay their frontline workers an initial round of hazard pay, and eligible renters and homeowners received help paying their bills. We may have stopped the initial bleed for Pennsylvanians struggling due to the pandemic, but we have yet to go beyond a Band-Aid fix.

To move toward recovery, we first need to manage the virus. Eight months into this pandemic and now headed into flu season, the virus isn’t going away. Throughout this time period, legislative Republicans have focused their efforts on undermining the advice of public health officials and sowing discontent in the administration’s efforts to control the virus and ease the virus’ impact on public health and our economy.

The General Assembly has spent week after week in session debating whether to open various segments of the economy without any expertise or desire to protect workers through commonsense requirements for reopening such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and hazard pay. We need a real plan for recovery. State and local governments and the people of this commonwealth need billions more in federal relief, which the president has now indicated is highly unlikely to happen before the November election. But at the very least – the people of Pennsylvania need Republicans to stop sitting on over $1 billion in remaining CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Funds, and pass legislation to provide this meaningful relief to Pennsylvanians.

Small businesses have been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. They have endured everything from reduced revenues, to employee turnover, and closure orders. Restaurants are also are suffering due to health and safety precautions that must be taken to protect staff and customers. We need to provide relief to small businesses and restaurants now, so they aren’t forced to permanently close. We all know how devastating this would be on our local economies – empty storefronts and laid off workers.

This is funding that was promised to Pennsylvanians who, by no fault of their own, have been hurt by the pandemic. They are the very people upon whom we have come to rely for food, health care, transportation, and other basic necessities – this group is also disproportionately comprised of women and people of color, who have historically been paid less and discriminated against in the workplace.

If Republicans in Harrisburg fail to act, current law requires remaining CARES

Act Coronavirus Relief Fund dollars be distributed to all but the seven most populated counties in the commonwealth. That would cut nearly half the population of Pennsylvania out of additional aid, including those living in counties with the highest COVID-19 counts.

The General Assembly must act – and they must act swiftly. Time is running out for many people, non-profits and businesses. House Democrats have introduced many proposals to target these dollars to places that we believe need it the most — to provide grants and loans to small businesses, to distribute PPE to health care workers and schools, to help our child care providers remain viable to serve the families that rely on them, and to compensate those frontline workers who have put others before themselves for months.

We need to quit playing this game and get serious. We will continue to raise these proposals through the legislative process, but we call on Republicans to sit down and work with us on a plan to get these dollars to the people who need them the most. We have a basic duty to the constituents we serve to support them through this crisis. Pennsylvanians simply cannot afford to wait any longer for Republicans to act.