Flaws in stimulus bill

Richard A. Sokerka

The U.S. House of Representatives recently voted on and passed the Health and Economic Recovery Omni­bus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act along party lines with the Democratic majority prevailing.

The U.S. Senate is now in the process of reviewing the bill that has an issue that should concern every Catholic.

The HEROES Act, which was championed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who often touts her Catholic faith and education, strikes down Catholic schools from being able to receive any services.

Under the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, all services available to public schools in the bill were also made available to non-public schools.

There is no such provision in the HEROES Act. It rescinds funding protections that Catholic schools enjoyed in the CARES Act. Denying Catholic schools from being eligible for any funding discriminates against taxpayers who send their children to Catholic schools, and families who are equally impacted by the pandemic. It also violates the Federal Emergency Manage­ment Act (FEMA) policy as outlined in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which provided relief to churches that were damaged by natural disasters, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Coronavirus has also affected churches, as well as schools. As with the hurricanes, this pandemic does not discriminate, but this legislation certainly does.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged dioceses across the country to call and write to members of the Senate to voice their objections to the legislation and the N.J. Catholic Conference (NJCC), the public policy arm of the state’s bishops, is encouraging Catholics to ask their senators to include aid for parochial schools and their families in this stimulus legislation. The NJCC prepared a message on its site for Catholics to send to U.S. Senators. The message asks the legislators to consider including an equitable service provision for the private school community, “consistent with previous emergency disaster legislation;” direct aid to private school families in the form of scholarships, and tax credits for scholarship granting organizations; and tax credits or deductions for private school tuition and expenses.

We call on the U.S. Senate to right the wrong written into the HEROES Act that discriminates against Catholic schools and to ensure equitable services are available to the private school community consistent with previous emergency disaster legislation.