From the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (http://www.pennbpc.org):
Go to https://actionnetwork.org/letters/0f127aec5b2fc2406bf7d133f1ff5d49c16da9ef/ to tell Senators Pat Toomey and Bob Casey to support and advance the Heroes Act, a bold and comprehensive coronavirus response bill that provides economic support for our state and local governments, and that protects the lives and livelihoods of Pennsylvanians.”
It’s been more than a month since the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act to address the unprecedented health and economic crises our nation faces, yet Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican senators — including Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania — have indicated that they don’t believe that any further federal action is necessary.
If the Senate does not act quickly, important relief provisions enacted since March will expire much too soon, pushing tens of millions of struggling Americans into even greater peril, including millions of Pennsylvanians.
Even worse, state and local governments — which face huge revenue shortfalls — will be forced to consider tax increases, cuts to vital services, and layoffs of large numbers of teachers and other essential workers. And any of these actions will put more people out of work and more strain on those who are still employed, deepening and prolonging the already severe recession.
And there will be disastrous consequences for Pennsylvania if the Senate continues to do nothing in response to this national emergency. At the end of May, Governor Wolf and the General Assembly of Pennsylvania enacted a partial budget for 2020-21, flat-funding most agencies and programs for the first five months of the year, with plans to finish the rest of the budget this fall. Without significant federal relief to offset the projected loss of $5 billion in revenue through the end of June 2021, state legislators and the governor may have few options for completing the budget other than raising taxes, cutting services, and laying off state-funded workers.
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