The House of Representatives passed Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s HEROES Act to provide more economic relief from the coronavirus pandemic, but the $3 trillion package seems unlikely to survive in the Senate. What are the prospects for more federal aid to ease the impact of the coronavirus crisis and how realistic is it for California to look to Washington, D.C. to solve its $54 billion budget deficit?
Congressman Jared Huffman, the Marin County Democrat who represents California’s 2nd Congressional District, joined KCBS Radio’s "The State Of California" to discuss.
You voted to help pass this latest stimulus bill last Friday. What are the chances of this bill even coming to a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate?
This bill in its exact form probably will not come to the floor because we have divided government and Republican colleagues who see this crisis very differently right now. (Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell thinks that we can just wait for some indefinite period of time and that states can just be allowed to go bankrupt, which they can’t even legally do. I think the scope and urgency of this crisis will put and increasing amount of pressure on the Senate and on the administration and that they will eventually have to work with us on something on the scale of this legislation.
What parts of this bill can Democrats simply not do without?
Critical support for state, local and tribal governments is certainly at the top of that list. That’s not the only thing that we think is a vital priority. We think that protecting the November election, dividing a way for states to move to all-mail balloting for everyone that chooses to vote by mail, protecting the United States Postal Service from financial collapse. These are all critical, critical priorities that are in the HEROES Act. More support for bringing some coherence and just a national strategy, not just to testing, but the PPE supply chains and to get ahead all of all of the same chaos happening when it comes time for a vaccine. All of that is in the HEROES Act. We think it’s a really solid piece of legislation.
What isn’t in the bill now that you will try to introduce later?
Two things jump to mind. The first is, I think having watched this play for a couple months, the framework for the Paycheck Protection Program, which is basically to push money through third-party banks out to small businesses to try to get them to maintain their employees, I think there’s a better way. I think the model that some European countries have used, where the government has a direct payroll system that basically takes over the payroll for companies that are having a hard time and pushes that fund directly to the employees. It’s just a far better way to go. We’ve got to tackle the longer-term economic stimulus needs, which include things like infrastructure. Hopefully, a greener and better infrastructure than we’ve had. Something that includes universal broadband, so that these remote learning and Telehealth and other things that we appreciate more than ever, can actually be available to every American.
How much federal aid can California reasonably expect?
I can’t give you a specific dollar amount. Although, we’ve put a formula in place that would hav brought something close to what the governor is asking for. It’s gotta be significant. State and local governments have just gone off a fiscal cliff because of this crisis. If you think about it, those who get their revenue from sales taxes, permit fees or various kinds, all of that has just stopped with this pandemic. Many of them, like the state, are facing a July 1 fiscal year and the only way that they can put a balanced budget on the table is through massive layoffs and cuts, which is going to send our economy into another kind of spiral and also hurt our schools and our kids.
Three counties in your district - Humboldt, Trinity, Del Norte - are opening faster than the state’s timeline. How are you feeling about that?
I’m in touch regularly with our public health officials in all of the counties I represent. I think that even though some rural areas are going to be able to move a little faster, in my districts, at least, it’s still happening carefully and thoughtfully. Nobody is doing some act of defiance against the governor. They’re working closely within the framework of the state directives in cases where they believe they can merit a faster move in some specific way, they’re asking for that permission. I’m pleased to see the cooperation between the local and the state levels.
