May 15 the House passed H.R.6800, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, by a vote of 208-199. The legislation is a $3 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, being referred to as “CARES 2.0” and contains a laundry list of House Democrat’s legislative priorities. Provisions in the package included:

• Additional individual stimulus payments
• $1 trillion in funding for state and local governments
• A grant program for employers to provide pandemic premium pay
• Expansion of the employee retention tax credit
• Extension of the $600/week federal pandemic unemployment compensation
• An OSHA COVID-19 exposure standard for certain industries
• Changes to COVID-19 paid leave benefits
• Pension plan funding relief proposals

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has signaled that CARES 2.0 would not be considered in its current form, and the White House has also expressed no interest in the proposal as it stands. The package is viewed as an opening to negotiations on the next COVID-19 relief bill, which is unlikely to materialize until June at the earliest.