Little Lobbyists Statement on the HEROES Act: Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act of 2020
As a pandemic sweeps through our country, Little Lobbyists know all too well that the safety and health of our broader community directly impacts the safety of our children with complex medical needs and disabilities. Little Lobbyists support the swift passage of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act to help ensure everyone has access to the support and protections they need to keep our communities safe through this crisis.
The HEROES Act provides many supports to help families during this crisis, including direct payments to families in the form of additional stimulus payments, critical funds for testing, tracing and treatment, an increase in funds for state and local governments, support for small businesses, rent and mortgage relief, protections for immigrants, funding for the United States Postal Service, an expansion of SNAP benefits, hazard pay for essential workers, extension of unemployment benefits, increased funds for the 2020 Census, elections protections, increased worker safety, and protections for health care coverage. These provisions will help families needing to shelter in place during this crisis as well as those who have been adversely affected economically.
In particular, we are pleased to see increased funding for home and community-based services in this bill, which includes increases in compensation for home care workers and direct support professionals as well as incentives to recruit new home health workers and direct support professionals. Additional funding for more equipment, including personal protective equipment for both health care workers and family caregivers is also included. There is also crucial funding for individuals with disabilities on Medicaid waiver wait lists to receive home and community based services. These provisions are especially critical for children and adults with complex medical needs and disabilities who rely on home nursing care and other direct support professionals in order to continue to survive and thrive at home instead of in a hospital or other institutional setting, where they would be at a much higher risk of infection.
There is more important work ahead, so we look forward to continuing to engage with legislators to ensure more disability-centered disaster preparedness, funding that is directed specifically towards special education as it relates to distance learning, and more specific remedies to address the accessibility of voting nationwide during this crisis and into the future. We urge legislators to pass this critical legislation swiftly so that all Americans can have access to the health care and economic supports they need to survive this pandemic and move forward together.
Little Lobbyists is a family-led group advocating for children with complex medical needs and disabilities to ensure they have access to the health care, education, and community inclusion they need to survive and thrive.
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