Friend,
No one should have to worry about whether they can reliably access electricity, clean water, or broadband internet.
But across the country, millions of families cannot afford the skyrocketing prices of these essential services.
Mounting debt for unpaid bills has brought families to the brink of experiencing homelessness. And people who can’t afford their utility bills are punished through shutoffs of these vital, life-sustaining services. Which means they can’t meet their basic needs.
So I introduced the Maintaining Access to Essential Services Act in the U.S. House. The bill will stop utility shutoffs, require reconnection for anyone whose essential services have been shut off, and eliminate household debt for water, electricity, and broadband internet.
It’s outrageous that utilities are shutting off people’s access to life-sustaining services, especially in the midst of this pandemic and economic crisis.
Even before the pandemic, millions of people across the country were going without running water—a basic human need and a right—simply because they couldn’t afford to pay for it. As if this system weren’t cruel enough, I know families whose children have been taken by Child Protective Services because they could not afford rising water bills. It’s devastating.
This punitive system disproportionately harms Black, brown, and low-income people.
To start to address these crises, the Maintaining Access to Essential Services Act provides nearly $40 billion in low-interest loans to utilities—and requires the utilities that receive loans to:
- suspend utility shutoffs (water, power, and internet)
- restore disconnected service
- suspend late fees and charges
- stop the sale of household debt to debt collectors
- stop filing adverse reports to credit agencies
The loans will be forgiven when the utilities forgive all outstanding household debt. That’s how we can eliminate mounting debt for millions of struggling families, and begin to break the cycle of poverty.
In this time of crisis and beyond, we must ensure that people can remain in their homes with their water running and their lights on. We can do this, together.
In solidarity,
Rep. Rashida Tlaib
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