Mr. President, today I am introducing the Layoff Prevention Act. This bill would extend the financing and grant provisions for work sharing that I authored and worked to include in the Middle Class…
Mr. President, today I am introducing the Layoff Prevention Act. This bill would extend the financing and grant provisions for work sharing that I authored and worked to include in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, and, most recently, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
The concept of work sharing is simple. It helps people who are currently employed--but in danger of being laid off--to keep their jobs. By giving struggling companies the flexibility to reduce hours instead of their workforce, work sharing programs prevent layoffs and help employers save money on rehiring costs. Employees who participate in work sharing keep their jobs and receive a portion of Unemployment Insurance benefits to make up for lost wages. This prevents layoffs, saves employers rehiring costs, and costs states only a fraction of what it would if workers went on unemployment full-time.
Financing for work sharing programs was included in the CARES Act and extended through March 14, 2021 in the most recent COVID-19 relief legislation enacted in December. The legislation I am introducing today would build upon what is currently in law, by enacting a five-year extension of financing for permanent work sharing programs, and a two- year extension for temporary programs. This revised Layoff Prevention Act will also double funding to support states that are implementing work sharing programs, from $100 million, as provided in the CARES Act, to $200 million.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of this bill-- which will continue to spur our recovery from the pandemic--by keeping American workers on the job, saving taxpayers money, and providing employers with a practical and cost-effective alternative to layoffs.
Mr. President, in order to build on a key provision I authored in the CARES Act, which provided states with $150 billion in Coronavirus Relief Funds, I am reintroducing the State and Local Emergency Stabilization Fund Act to help state and local governments shoulder the costs of the coronavirus and its devastating impact on lives, livelihoods, and the economy.
The State and Local Emergency Stabilization Fund Act has three critical components: authorizing new funding, assuring flexibility in spending the funds, and extending the time period for which the funding can be spent.
Specifically, the bill would provide State and local governments an additional $600 billion in funding, includes a protective $5 billion small state minimum, treats the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as States, and reserves funds for territories and Tribes. In addition, $59 billion would be allocated to States based on their relative coronavirus infection rates, and $205 billion would be reserved exclusively for local governments. The bill makes it crystal clear that Coronavirus Relief Funds are flexible and may be used to maintain state and local services. And it gives State and local governments until June 30, 2022 to spend the money in order to ensure funding can be equitably allocated and disbursed to help communities combat COVID-19 and recover.
According to a November 29, 2020 Wall Street Journal article, ``State and local government spending on public services fell at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.7% in the third quarter from the second, according to the Commerce Department. That followed a 6% decline in the second quarter, the sharpest since 1952. By October, the sector had roughly 1.2 million fewer jobs than a year earlier. It could take four to eight years for the national economy to recover from the pandemic, estimates Dan White, director of fiscal-policy research at Moody's Analytics. State and local governments could take up to 10 or 15 years, he said.''
Mr. President, we should all let that sink in. ``State and local government could take up to 10 or 15 years'' to recover from the pandemic. The scale and pace of this public health emergency and its impact on our economy requires each of us to swiftly set aside ideology and work urgently to address these generational challenges head on with additional fiscal relief. We all have a common interest in ensuring that state and local governments can continue to provide health care, education, public safety, and other vital services, just when they are needed most. Any economic recovery needs reliable state and local governments that provide the business certainty that make our country attractive to businesses and investors throughout the world.
Nobody is immune from this crisis. Congress should come together, do the right thing, and provide states the resources they need to save lives and livelihoods and get the economy working again. I urge each of my colleagues to join me in working to enact this legislation so that we can get more critical federal resources to our states and local governments who are on the front lines of battling this public health and economic emergency.
Mr. President, along with Senators Brown, Leahy and many or my colleagues, I am reintroducing legislation that would create a $75 biilion Homeowner Assistance Fund that builds on the success of the Hardest Hit Fund at the Treasury Department that I championed in 2010.
The Hardest Hit Fund provided funds to 18 state-level Housing Finance Agencies, directing targeted foreclosure prevention assistance to households and neighborhoods in states like Rhode Island hit hard by the economic and housing market downturn.
The Homeowner Assistance Fund expands this model to provide a flexible source of Federal aid to all State-level Housing Finance Agencies. This Federal funding could then be used to help struggling households remain in their homes while they search for new employment or wait to get back to work. Financial assistance could go towards preventing eviction, mortgage delinquency, default, foreclosures, or loss of utility services, such as water, gas, electricity, and the Internet as well as paying property taxes.
One of the key lessons COVID-19 has taught us is that for many families, their homes may be the single most effective and accessible form of personal protective equipment. The last thing we should be doing is making housing less stable at the worst possible time. According to a January 2021 National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, ``policies that limit evictions are found to reduce COVID-19 infections by 3.8% and reduce deaths by 11%. Moratoria on utility disconnections reduce COVID-19 infections by 4.4% and mortality rates by 7.4%. Had such policies been in place across all counties (i.e., adopted as Federal policy) from early March 2020 through the end of November 2020, our estimated counterfactuals show that policies that limit evictions could have reduced COVID-19 infections by 14.2% and deaths by 40.7%. For moratoria on utility disconnections, COVID-19 infections rates could have been reduced by 8.7% and deaths by 14.8%.'' In short, keeping families housed saves lives, which is precisely the goal of our Homeowner Assistance Fund legislation.
I thank the Independent Community Bankers of America; Credit Union National Association; National Association of Realtors; National Low Income Housing Coalition; National Council of State Housing Agencies; Habitat for Humanity International; National Housing Conference; National Community Reinvestment Coalition; National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders; National Leased Housing Association; Americans for Financial Reform; National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients; Center for Responsible Lending; American Public Gas Association; National Rural Electric Cooperative Association; National Energy Assistance Directors' Association, Council of State Community Development Agencies, Rhode Island Housing; and the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.
I urge all of my colleagues to join in pressing for inclusion of the Homeowner Assistance Fund in our continued response to the coronavirus pandemic.
