The Senate is still haggling over a $1.8 trillion stimulus package to address the economic fall-out of the coronavirus. While COVID-19 rapidly spreads, some workers are forced to work without protection, others stay home without pay, and vital supplies like respirators are hard to come by in our nation's hospitals. The poorly coordinated national response to this crisis is a disgrace, especially in a country as wealthy as ours. 

 

At issue is the inadequate protections for workers laid off from their jobs and a $500 billion slush fund for loans to distressed companies and specific industries. The opaque bill would give Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin sole discretion to choose which companies get aid, and the names of those companies would not have to be revealed until six months after the loans are disbursed. This leaky bill would also allow Trump's real estate companies to benefit.

Call your senators and demand that people come before profits.

Instead of bail-outs for corporations, we need to address workers' needs head-on: expansion of unemployment benefits, extended sick pay for all workers who need it, increase in Social Security, and expansion of food stamps while dropping the work requirement. We should protect healthcare workers and patients by ordering companies with idled plants to produce personal protection equipment and respirators.

We urge you to call your senators now to demand that the stimulus bill help workers, not corporations. Call as soon as possible, day or night, and leave a message. Ask your friends, family, and co-workers to do the same. 

Stay strong and safe!!

 

Rossana Cambron

Joe Sims