Originally published on Law360.

Expanding earned income, child and dependent care tax credits would help working families survive the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, House Democrats said Thursday at a hearing to build support for the next round of virus relief legislation.

Economic assistance provided to families under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, enacted in March, won’t outlast job losses and financial distress from the virus, lawmakers said at hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures. The virus causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.

California Democrat Mike Thompson, chairman of the subcommittee, said that economically vulnerable people could fall into irreversible financial disaster if the Senate doesn’t take up the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, the Democrats’ $3 trillion measure approved by a divided House last month.

The Heroes Act’s tax provisions include an expansion of the employee retention tax credit, a repeal of recent changes to net operating losses for corporations, and a two-year elimination of the cap on state and local tax deductions. It would also extend the CARES Act’s economic impact payments and expand the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, and the child and dependent care tax credit.