It has been around five months since quarantine has started, and there is no sign of the situation improving in the near future. In March, Congress passed the CARES Act, the first major relief bill to deal with the effects of the pandemic. Though it was not without many flaws, it mostly served its intended purpose as a stopgap measure to lessen the impacts to the economy and the American people.

As of August 8th, all the major direct benefits of the act, namely the $600 a week increase to unemployment benefits, the small business Paycheck Protection Program fund, and the moratorium to evictions, will have lapsed. To prevent the economy from tanking further, Senate Republicans and House Democrats have unveiled their stimulus proposals, respectively named the HEALS and HEROES Acts.

At their cores, the two proposals share many of the same ideals: getting money back into the pockets of taxpayers, reinstating benefits for unemployed workers, providing money to help small businesses survive, and helping schools adapt to the current situation. But how they go about achieving these goals are almost completely different, and that is most easily seen in their price tags: $1 trillion for the HEALS Act compared to $3 trillion for the HEROES Act.

The two acts have almost completely opposite approaches to unemployment benefits; while the HEROES Act will extend the $600 per week through January and allowing gig workers to access it as well, the HEALS Act will scale it down to $200 per week, moving up to 70% of lost wages in October, and lasting until the end of the year. The HEALS Act will also allow for a return-to-work bonus of up to $450 per week for unemployed workers who regain work.

The proposals both agree that a new round of stimulus checks are necessary, and will remain similar in value to the CARES Act stimulus. However, the HEROES Act will give significantly more money for dependents than the HEALS Act, while also allowing taxpaying immigrants without Social Security numbers to receive benefits.

Both acts also will extend the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses until the end of the year and expand eligibility for it, allowing small businesses more time to take advantage of the around $130 billion in unused funds. The HEALS Act calls for another $190 billion to be added on top of this, totaling to around $310 billion available until the end of the year.

The HEROES Act will extend the federal moratorium on evictions for another year, and will allocate $200 billion for housing programs and $100 billion for renting assistance. The related section in the CARES Act has helped as many as 23 million families stay in their homes while active, and the HEROES Act will likely have a similar effect. The HEALS Act did not include a similar section.

The two acts also offer around $100 billion for schools, with the HEROES Act dividing almost evenly between K-12 and higher education, and the HEALS Act splitting it almost 70-30 respectively. The HEALS Act, however, ties the K-12 funds to the school being open for in-person classes. Relatedly, the HEALS Act also will provide a 5 year liability shield for schools, businesses, and hospitals from being sued for coronavirus-related issues.

So far, there has been very little progress in negotiations for the next relief package. Many on both sides will be hard-pressed to budge on the key aspects of their proposals. But as with all legislation, a compromise will come eventually, and as the crisis worsens, it will hopefully come sooner rather than later.