Dear John,
In case you missed it... this week the Voices for Human Needs blog sits in on a Facebook Live event comparing the House and Senate versions of COVID-19 relief. And we cover a news conference featuring members of MomsRising and senators calling for an immediate extension of weekly $600 federal unemployment benefits, and report on North Dakota groups that are urging Congress to move more quickly. Finally, we unveil this week's COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, a by-the-numbers glance at how the pandemic is affecting low-income and other vulnerable people. Please share!
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This week on the blog...
Human needs advocates compare Senate's HEALS Act to House's HEROES Act -- and find it sorely lacking
Aug. 3
As millions of Americans lose access to additional unemployment benefits, face the dire threat of eviction and homelessness, and increasingly grapple with food insecurity, advocates from across Iowa and the U.S. last week came together to call upon the Senate to move quickly to pass robust legislation in response the COVID-19 crisis. The Facebook Live event, hosted by Tax March Iowa, included Sister Richelle Friedman, CHN’s Director of Public Policy and an Iowa native. READ MORE
With $600 UI benefits lapsed, MomsRising members, Senators call for extension
Aug. 4
Sharmah Wardlaw of Atlanta, Georgia worked as a concierge at a local convention center, a job she had held for 15 years, when the coronavirus pandemic set in. Suddenly, no conventions, no visitors – and for Wardlaw, no work. She relied in part on the additional $600 in federal unemployment benefits – payments that ended last month. "Without the $600 a week boost, we won’t even be able to keep up with the rent,” she said. “We are praying that Congress extends it. Otherwise we don’t know what we’re going to do.” READ MORE »
COVID-19 relief: North Dakota groups push Congress to move more quickly
Aug. 5
BISMARCK, N.D. - As COVID-19 cases continue to spike in North Dakota, social service support groups are asking the U.S. Senate to act quickly before its August recess and approve more emergency assistance. Many North Dakotans are on the brink of hunger and homelessness because of COVID-19-related shutdowns, according to Cheryl Ann Kary - executive director of the Sacred Pipe Resource Center, which provides services to Native American families in the Bismarck area. ...READ MORE
CHN's latest COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship
Aug. 6
How much more will people lose before Trump and McConnell provide help? The House enacted its HEROES bill on May 15. The Senate has not yet acted; its majority caucus is divided. Since the House acted, the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has soared from 1.4 million to 4.8 million. We have gained back some of the jobs lost, but are still at least 13 million below the February peak, and now, as weekly unemployment claims have well exceeded 1 million for 20 weeks, job growth sharply slowed in July. About 30 million jobless people are now going without the $600/week extra unemployment compensation, and that is making it much harder for them to pay rent or buy food. READ MORE »
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