On May 15th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, the fifth legislative effort to provide small businesses, unemployed workers, frontline health care professionals, and first responders, to name a few, with critical assistance in the struggle to overcome the coronavirus global pandemic. The HEROES Act is a massive bill, necessary to address a massive challenge to the American economy and the public health system which still has not developed a preventative vaccine, the key to vanquishing COVID-19.

Two days before the HEROES Act vote, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the gravity of the COVID-19 recession – worse than any since World War II – requires more fiscal action by Congress, and fast. He stated that although adequate action might be costly, it would ultimately lead to a stronger, faster recovery. In eastern Connecticut, Powell’s words ring true. Last week’s sickening April unemployment numbers in the Norwich-New London region powerfully demonstrate that his somber warning rings true not just on Wall Street, but right here on our Main Street.

The HEROES Act’s overarching mission is to protect the economic status of individual Americans, families, and small and medium-sized businesses, while at the same time investing in new resources like COVID-19 testing, treatment, and prevention – which are key to victory over this virus and the recession. For laid off workers at like those at Foxwoods, it provides a 100% COBRA subsidy to maintain health insurance, a plan supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO.

As the bill’s title implies, it contains new support for the frontline workers who have kept this country going in the last three months. Nurses, first responders, sanitation workers, postal workers, EMTs and others have truly performed heroically, and deserve more than just a “thank you.” Many of these essential workers are in state and local government, both in a financial tailspin caused by a simultaneous sharp drop-off in revenue and the need for much greater spending on emergency services. Bipartisan governors documented a need of $500 billion over the next two years to avoid the inevitable layoffs and tax increases that emerging deficits will dictate, which would worsen the COVID-19 recession.

It’s not just states – local governments are feeling the same pressure, and the HEROES Act contains $400 billion in direct payments to towns and cities. $87.5 billion was set aside specifically for communities with a population of less than 50,000, which is a first in federal assistance to local governments. Every town in eastern Connecticut’s Second District has a population below that threshold, and these funds will arrive based on a population formula, without any redirection or reduction by state government. Lastly, $100 billion is included for education, K-12 and higher education, and $25 billion is included for the postal service.

Preserving employment and services in the public sector is only part of the bill. H.R. 6800 would also make smart changes to the Small Business Administration’s emergency lending programs. For example, it would give more flexibility to allow employers to claim loan forgiveness for 24 weeks of payroll instead of the current eight. It would eliminate any tax liability for a small business’s use of the loan proceeds for overhead and replenishes Emergency Disaster Loan Program grants. The HEROES Act enlarges Employment Retention Tax Credits, and would allow small businesses to write-off purchases for Personal Protective Equipment and other COVID-19 expenses.

Over the course of the last 10 weeks, I’ve had 15 video town halls with Chambers of Commerce and other employer groups across our region. Based on those calls, there is no doubt that these changes would provide relief.

For eastern Connecticut’s farming economy, the HEROES Act replenishes the USDA Direct Payments Program to cushion the collapse in prices for dairy, specialty crops, and livestock. Last March, the CARES Act funded the first allotment of direct payments to farmers to cover some of the losses from crashing commodity prices. The HEROES Act would refill this program because it’s clear that the plummeting prices aren’t going to rebound soon. In eastern Connecticut, any failure of Congress to bolster this program will result in farm closures — a death sentence to rural economies.

HEROES would create a “dairy donation” program, which would allow our region’s farmers to get reimbursed when they donate their dairy products to feeding programs. It would boost the minimum and maximum SNAP benefit, which has a two-fold advantage: increasing the benefit will help take pressure off of food banks and soup kitchens, which are inundated right now, and it will give families in need more support to purchase goods in-store, including the goods our farmers produce.

The bill creates a HEROES fund to address a simple, common-sense goal: a hazard payment fund for the workers who have remained on the job, performing essential services throughout this public health emergency. Grocery store workers have continued to stock shelves, truck drivers have kept delivering important goods, the shipbuilders down at Electric Boat’s shipyard in Groton haven’t stopped working to fulfill our U.S. Navy’s national security priorities. These folks and many others have labored for our communities and country throughout the pandemic. The HEROES Act would do more than to say “thank you.” It would reward them for taking on the risk of infection while interacting with the public or with co-workers in close quarters.

Chairman Powell’s warning that the COVID-19 recession requires more fiscal action by Congress was an extraordinary call to action coming from the guardian of U.S. currency and fiscal markets. Powell has access to vast economic data that allows him to see around the corners of trends in the financial markets, employment, and commerce. He made it clear that the 15% unemployment rate announced at the end of April won’t be the peak, and that double-digit rates will persist into 2021. He advised that although new fiscal action might be costly, the cost of inaction would be higher.

The HEROES Act was crafted to respond to a truly unprecedented challenge, the likes of which our nation hasn’t faced in generations. We have a defining choice to make — face down the challenge with bold action now, or shrink from the moment and pay a greater cost.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives laid down a marker, knowing full well the Senate, in Republican hands, will take a different approach, which is normal. The Senate, however, should not shrink from Powell’s challenge and do nothing.

The ball is in its court.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, a Democrat, represents eastern Connecticut's Second District.