Team,

As Washington state reels from the spread of COVID-19, I have worked tirelessly to ensure the federal government steps up and responds to this crisis.

On Friday, the House passed and the president signed into law a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

Like the coronavirus relief packages before it, this was not a perfect bill, but it was an important step, and I’m proud of several key measures:

• The largest expansion in decades of unemployment insurance benefits for laid-off and furloughed workers, including benefits for gig workers and independent contractors.
• A direct cash payment of $1,200 to the majority of adults and an additional $500 for every dependent child, to put money in everyone’s pockets as soon as possible.
• Funding for struggling institutions, including $350 billion in emergency grants and forgivable loans to devastated small businesses and nonprofits, a cash infusion of $150 billion to hospitals and healthcare institutions, and a state stabilization fund to help local and state governments.
• $15 billion in funding to make sure there’s lifesaving personal protective equipment in the Strategic National Stockpile.
• Support for struggling industries that do right by their employees, and follow conditions like keeping their employees on payroll and eliminating dividends and any stock buybacks.
• Housing assistance, including a temporary moratorium on evictions and foreclosures in federally funded properties, and more money to address homelessness.
• A moratorium on student loan payments through September 2020 without interest.

Even with all of these critical provisions, our work is far from over and I won’t stop fighting for additional support and protection for working people and families. In particular, I hope the next package will include more money for states and localities like ours — testing and treatment for everyone, including immigrants and people in the criminal justice and immigration detention systems; and ensure that paid leave provisions apply to all workers, including those at the largest corporations.

At the end of the day, what I want you to know is this: Relief is coming to you very soon.

This is a crisis of epic proportions and I promise you — I will push for the federal government to rise to the challenge with solutions that match the scale of this crisis.

In solidarity,

Pramila