House Passes the HEROES Act

Late this evening, the House passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act 208-199. The $3 trillion package is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Senate, which has indicated it will not consider options for another stimulus bill before the Memorial Day recess. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) did concede yesterday that Congress will likely "need to act again at some point." 

The HEROES Act contains various provisions to boost individual income, including stimulus checks for individuals and extensions of pandemic unemployment insurance through January 2021. It also establishes a $200 billion hazard pay “Heroes fund” for essential workers and suspends limitations on State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions imposed by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for two years, at a cost of $136 billion. On the business side, the bill expands the Employer Retention Tax Credit, from $10,000 to $15,000 per employee per quarter and expands the small business Paycheck Protection Program.

The Joint Committee on Taxation released a new analysis of the revenue provisions in the HEROES Act. The report estimates that the bill will cut tax receipts by $833 billion, with over half of the cost attributable to a second round of stimulus checks that millions of Americans would receive. An analysis of the JCT report is forthcoming.