While the final bill is far from perfect, I am pleased to report that Senate Democrats took a Trump Administration proposal weighted heavily in favor of handouts to big corporations, and succeeded in redirecting its primary focus to workers, families, and all taxpayers.

Sign here if you agree we must stay focused on American families first, not slush funds for Trump and his business partners.

Here are some key victories from last night:

• Businesses, both large and small, are incentivized to keep workers on the payroll and/or cover all their health care premiums.


• Small businesses can receive two months of interest-free loans of up to $10 million for up to two months of payroll and fixed expenses, which will be forgiven if they end the period with the same payroll they had before the crisis.


• Workers who are laid off will receive dramatically expanded unemployment insurance payments and part-time workers, self-employed, and independent contractors will be eligible for the first time.


• Hospitals will receive sorely needed support to deal with this crisis and the strain it has put on our health system.


• Significant guardrails and accountability provisions were placed around the subsidized loans to the airline industry and other big businesses -- who receive substantial assistance under this deal -- to prohibit recipients from using funds for stock buybacks or executive bonuses.

The Trump Administration’s backwards proposal to give sizable one-time payments to individuals making close to a million dollars and much smaller payments to lower income people was discarded. Instead individuals who make up to $75,000 ($150,000 for couples) will receive a maximum one-time benefit of $1,200 per adult and $500 per child and everyone below that income will receive the same amount of benefit even if they have no income tax liability.

While precious time was wasted by Republican efforts to force through a deeply partisan bill with little accountability, this is no longer the no-strings-attached blank check Trump had been seeking.

Senate Democrats did not back down. We fought hard and successfully for measures to protect the health and economic security of the American people during this unprecedented crisis. But, we are not through this yet and more remains to be done in the coming weeks and months.

Sign here to join me in calling on all Senators to focus our future efforts on protecting jobs, meeting the needs of our health care system, and helping working people and families who have been clobbered by this crisis so they don’t lose homes and small businesses.

Thank you for all that you do.

Chris