May 13, 2020

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative,

On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to oppose H.R. 6800, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act.

This $3 trillion bill, on top of the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, has hundreds of billions of dollars in spending unrelated to the coronavirus crisis, along with new programs and mandates that will make it far more difficult for the nation to recover from the impact of the pandemic.  It shamefully takes advantage of an unprecedented healthcare and economic crisis to put the government into a position to control much of the economy, and contains a laundry list of radical, socialist proposals. The expensive and unnecessary provisions in her bill include:

An additional $15 billion for community development block grants on top of $5 billion in the CARES Act, which would combined would be more than six times the program’s annual budget; and,

An additional $20 million for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for Humanities, which each received $75 million in the CARES Act;

An additional $5 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which received $50 million in the CARES Act;

$675 million in total for Susan Harwood Training Grants, Byrne Justice Assistance Grants, the Legal Services Corporation, and the Community Oriented Policing Services Program, all of which have been proposed for substantial reductions or termination in numerous budget proposals.

H.R. 6800 adds $875 billion to the $150 billion in the CARES Act for state and local governments, which will allow states to backfill revenue shortfalls that are unrelated and existed prior to the COVID-19 crisis.  This amounts to a bailout of fiscally irresponsible states at the expense of taxpayers in states that have been making difficult spending decisions and kept their expenses in line with revenues. 

The HEROES Act would also lift the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions for two years.  The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act curbed SALT deduction claims at $10,000 through 2025.  Eliminating the cap and reinstating the full deduction only helps wealthy Americans in high-tax states and should not be included in a bill intended to address the coronavirus crisis.

Speaker Pelosi’s latest partisan proposal to waste the taxpayers’ money, expand the size and power of government, and promote a radical agenda will do far more harm than good.  I urge you to reject her bill, allow the provisions of the CARES Act to take full effect, and then prudently consider whether additional, targeted, and temporary expenditures are needed to help businesses, taxpayers, and their families.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW

Click for PDF