July 29, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 134 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages S4575-S4576]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               HEALS Act

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I am here on the floor to talk about some 
of the steps that Congress should take in response to the coronavirus 
pandemic. I am going to start with talking about the legislation that 
the majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, introduced yesterday.
  One of the aspects of it that hasn't gotten much attention and that, 
I think, is very positive and a very effective way to get the economy 
moving in a safe way is with some tax legislation. These are tax 
credits and tax deductions that help to encourage the hiring of new 
workers but that also do so in a safe way. These are the kinds of 
things that make a lot of sense and that have a lot of bipartisan 
support and appeal, so I think it should be part of whatever final 
package we end up with.
  The goal of these tax incentives is to say that we want people to 
reenter the workforce but to do it in a safe and sustainable way. For 
example, in the McConnell proposal is legislation I have introduced, 
called the Healthy Workplaces Tax Credit Act. It is very simple. It 
says there will be a credit on the employer's side of payroll taxes 
against qualified employee protection expenses and workplace 
reconfiguration expenses to ensure employers can afford additional 
safety measures.
  As I travel around the State of Ohio, I see the Plexiglas dividers. 
You have probably seen those in offices where there are more open 
settings. You see it in a lot of retail places now. There is a cost to 
that, but there is also a cost to personal protective gear--the masks 
and the gowns and the gloves and the other things that people are 
needing in order to have a safe workplace. As I have been in some of 
the factories around Ohio, I have also seen that they have had to 
reconfigure the factory spaces in order to provide more social 
distancing. At one plant, in its floor plan, it had expanded the 
lunchroom in order to provide more social distancing, and that, of 
course, meant there was less space for manufacturing. These are costs, 
and these are the kinds of things that could be part of this credit.
  So my hope is, whether it is a thermometer check or whether it is 
more testing or whether it is PPE or whether it is more hand sanitizer, 
that we could encourage people to use these things by having a tax 
credit. It would provide an immediate stimulus to the economy as well, 
which is a good thing because many businesses would be operating at a 
loss and not have taxable income, but they would have payroll tax 
liability, and this is a credit to the payroll tax.
  It also applies, by the way, to nonprofits, as it should, and to the 
501(c)(3)s. I was at one of the alcohol and drug addiction entities in 
one of our counties the week before last, and it had Plexiglas up. 
Frankly, it is hurting in terms of its budget right now, but it felt 
like it had to have a safe place for people to work. We want everybody 
to have a safe place. We want

[[Page S4576]]

people to go back to work and to go back safely.
  I commend Senator McConnell for including that bill in the CARES 2.0 
package that was released this week. This tax credit will support 
efforts to make the workplace safe and healthy and build consumer 
confidence in that all of the appropriate measures are being taken. It 
is important to get consumers back in the mix. Whether it is going back 
into a restaurant and feeling safe or going back to a retail 
establishment, if people feel safe, they are more likely to go back, 
and this economy can get going again. So I think it is something, 
again, both sides of the aisle should be able to support, and it will 
show we are doing everything we can to get people back to more normal 
lives.
  Second, with the unemployment rate still at about 11 percent, we need 
to encourage hiring and employee retention as this virus continues to 
affect our economy. In the McConnell proposal, we have a way to create 
this incentive that builds on legislation we have already passed in the 
form of the work opportunity tax credit. This is an existing law that 
gives employers an incentive to hire individuals who might not 
otherwise be able to get a job.
  Categories now include, as an example, our veterans. So, if you are a 
veteran and are having a tough time getting a job, you can go through 
the work opportunity tax credit, and the employer can get a credit for 
hiring you initially. By the way, almost everyone I talk to says these 
people end up being hired full time and being paid their full wages. In 
the meantime, they get a credit to bring them on during a first 
transition period, so it works.
  Another category, as an example, is the folks who have been let out 
of prison. Second chance individuals have a chance under the work 
opportunity tax credit, WOTC, to get a job.
  We have proposed adding a new category, which is qualified COVID-19 
employees--those who are on unemployment insurance immediately prior to 
their hiring date. It increases the work opportunity tax credit amount 
for this new targeted group of individuals from 40 percent of the first 
$6,000 in qualified wages to 50 percent of the first $10,000 in 
qualified wages. Again, it encourages us to help get people off 
unemployment insurance and back to work. Let's say they work for a 
company that is not going back because of COVID-19. Let's say it is a 
movie theater or a bowling alley or, maybe, a bar. Those individuals 
would qualify.
  Third, I support a proposal in this McConnell draft that builds on 
what is called the employee retention tax credit. That is already in 
law. We put it in law in the first CARES Act. The credit was a good 
start, but it needs to be updated and expanded given the course of our 
economy since March and what has happened with the coronavirus. This 
credit applies to employers who have operations partially or fully 
suspended due to COVID-19 and any related government order saying that 
one has to shut down but has chosen to retain one's affected employees. 
It is a credit that increases from the CARES 1 from 50 to 65 percent 
per employee--from $10,000 under current law for the whole year and 
$10,000 per quarter. It also helps businesses that have had a 25-
percent decline in revenues, not a 50-percent decline in revenues.
  It is for the group of companies that may not have qualified for a 
PPP credit or a PPP loan--they may not have gotten one--but is having a 
tough time keeping their workers. This would encourage them to keep 
those workers and to bring on new workers. Again, it is the kind of 
support that our workforce needs as the economy reopens and companies 
resume ramping up operations. It helps to bring people off the 
unemployment rolls. It is a pull into the workforce, and that is a good 
thing.
  These are commonsense proposals. What is more, historically, they 
have been policies that have had bipartisan support. I worked with my 
friend Senator Ben Cardin, on the other side, in designing the employee 
retention tax credit back in March, and expanding the work opportunity 
tax credit has always had bipartisan support.
  On the healthy workplace credit, Senator Sinema, of Arizona, has a 
similar bill that goes a little further, but it is very similar. I see 
no reason we can't take what we all agree on works and make it even 
better in this new package.
  Again, these tax incentives are the kind of bipartisan consensus-
builders that we ought to be looking at right now to get into a new 
package, hopefully, by the end of this week. We have to ensure--I think 
all of us agree--the safe reopening of our economy, and these tax 
provisions do that