McConnell Calls Heroes Act 'Totally Unserious Effort'
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized House Democrats’ proposed Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act, which contains substantial broadband funding, as a “totally unserious effort,” before a likely Friday House vote on the COVID-19 aid measure.…
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HR-6800 proposes $8.8 billion for an Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund to provide an “emergency broadband benefit” to qualifying households and a $5 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund for emergency E-rate funding. It would make broadcasters and other local outlets eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (see 2005130059). HR-6800 is a “seasonal catalog of left-wing oddities” that House Democrats decided to call “a coronavirus relief bill,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. Other congressional Republicans also criticized the measure, including House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., criticized McConnell for suggesting Congress wait to appropriate further economic stimulus money amid the pandemic. “Time to press the pause button?” Schumer asked. “When we have faced the greatest health and economic crisis since the [Great] Depression?”