We’ll be delivering your letter Monday! *When you click, you’ll automatically sign on if we already have your information. Take action now! Sign our letter to Congress calling on them to pass a Phase III coronavirus package that centers families in need, healthcare workers, small businesses, and our economy. Take Action

Dear Friend,

There is A LOT going on right now, to put it mildly.

We’re all doing our best to comprehend our new COVID-19 reality: Trying to be prepared and stay calm — and many of us are finding inspiration and awe in all the heroes in our neighborhoods, from healthcare workers to educators all coming together in many different ways to keep serving and protecting our communities!

And in this time of everyone pulling together, there’s more we need to do to ensure our elected officials are hearing from us and meeting our real life needs. We need to keep speaking out and using our “outside voices” (even if a lot of us have to stay inside) to make sure our elected leaders put what our  families, workers, healthcare providers, and economy really need at the front of their priorities list. (In other words, just giving away trillions of dollars to multi-million dollar corporations isn’t going to cut it.) This is an important moment and we need you to continue to speak out and use your voice!

****SIGN OUR LETTER NOW calling on Congress to pass another coronavirus package that protects our families, communities, healthcare providers, small businesses, and our economy! (We’ll be delivering your letter Monday! *When you click, you’ll automatically sign on if we already have your information.)

Here’s what’s going on: On Wednesday, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which provides over $100 billion to address important needs related to the coronavirus, including nutrition provisions to make sure struggling families (especially children missing free school lunches while out of school) have enough to eat, funding so everyone, even the uninsured, can get tested for the virus for free, taking the first step to update our Unemployment Insurance program, and paid sick days and paid leave for some employees. [1]

While this piece of legislation was a tremendous first step, there is still A LOT to be done. Congress has already started drafting “Phase III” legislation and we think they could vote on it as early as next week. [2]

We need YOU to speak out NOW to make sure that any Phase III coronavirus package includes provisions and funding for programs that lift up our families, healthcare workers, small businesses, and our economy—not just massive tax giveaways and bailouts to multi-million dollar industries with no strings attached.

***Take action now! Sign our letter to Congress calling on them to pass a Phase III coronavirus package that centers families in need, healthcare workers, small businesses, and our economy. (*When you click, you’ll automatically sign on if we already have your information.) 

The needs our families and communities face in battling this virus are tremendous. If our federal government is going to make massive (we’re talking trillions of dollars) investments we need to make sure they center the communities most in need. This includes low-wage workers, workers on the frontlines (including healthcare and childcare workers, first responders and more), people with disabilities, the elderly, small business owners, people with pre-existing conditions or chronic illnesses, people who are or have loved ones who are incarcerated, and mixed status families.

Our needs that still have to be addressed are plentiful but include: 

• Ensuring that all workers receive paid sick days and paid leave. (The Families First Act expanded this coverage to 87 million workers, but we need to make sure everyone, regardless of the size of their employer, gets access to paid sick days and we need to make sure every working person gets access to paid medical leave too.);
• Addressing the needs of both families that are in need of childcare and early childhood educators, like childcare providers;
• Make sure our families, especially those living paycheck-to-paycheck, get immediate cash flow through direct payments;
• Healthcare is provided to all those that need it, regardless of status or ability to pay—this includes testing, treatment, medical exams, vaccinations, and isolation/quarantine. We also need to ensure that our frontline healthcare providers have all the assistance and medical supplies they need, so they can continue showing up for us in a safe manner.
• Reduce restrictions and increase benefits for programs like Unemployment Insurance and SNAP (food stamps), which will be front line defenses for struggling families.
• Release people in jails, prisons, and detention centers who do not pose a public safety risk, such as families held by ICE, elderly people, those housed in pre-trial detention, or rehabilitated people.

In addition, any assistance provided to major corporations (including the airlines and hotel industry) must be worker-focused and have oversight and strings attached. This is not the time to give another trillion dollar tax cut to corporations while asking nothing from them in return. [3]

***Add your QUICK SIGNATURE to our letter to Congress calling on them to center our families and local communities when addressing the coronavirus. (*When you click, you’ll automatically sign on if we already have your information). The letter reads as follows:

“There is still much that needs to be done to respond to the ever-changing fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic. We need funding and programs to support workers, children, small businesses, and our economy.

We need Congress to take immediate action to protect our communities, especially those populations who are negatively and disproportionately impacted by this virus, including low-wage workers, workers on the front lines (including healthcare and childcare workers, first responders and more), children, people with disabilities, the elderly, small business owners, people with pre-existing conditions or chronic illnesses, people who are or have loved ones who are incarcerated, and mixed status families.

We need Congress to protect front line workers, while also guaranteeing that all those unable to work are provided with paid sick days, paid leave, and unemployment insurance. There are unmet needs regarding healthcare, nutrition, and childcare. Our families need immediate cash assistance, especially low and moderate-income families. In addition, any assistance provided to major corporations (including the airlines and hotel industry) must be worker-focused and have oversight and strings attached.

We are turning to our elected leaders to protect us and lift us up in our time of need. Please heed the call.”

The Phase III package is moving quickly, so we plan on sending your letter to Capitol Hill on Monday. We need to make sure that our families are not left out of the mix and that instead trillions of dollars are given away to big business with no strings attached. That won’t get us out of this crisis, it won’t fight this virus, and it won’t boost our economy. So after you sign our letter, please forward this email to five friends and post our action link on Facebook. We need to speak out in the loudest voice we have!

Please continue to stay home (if you are a non-essential worker), stay safe, wash your hands, and love your family! We appreciate all you are doing during this most difficult time.

-Elyssa, Ruth, Felicia, Nina, Bea, Xochitl, Sara, Sue Anne, Monifa, Donna, Kristin, Sili, the entire MomsRising/ MamásConPoder

P.S. We want to hear about how you are weathering this complicated time. Can you share your thoughts and story with us?

[1] Buzzfeed. “Congress Passed a Major Coronavirus Aid Bill and Is Already Working on Another.”

[2] CBS News. “Senate GOP ‘phase 3’ coronavirus bill includes checks up to $1,200 for most Americans.”  

[3] Dean Baker. “Any corporate bailouts should wipe out shareholders first.” Marketplace.

You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.