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Schumer, Pelosi Joint Statement On Senate GOP COVID-19 Proposal Selling Out Workers And Families

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement on the Senate GOP’s COVID-19 proposal:
 
“Two and a half months after Democrats delivered the solutions to defeating the virus and safely reopening the country in the Heroes Act, the Senate GOP has now come back with a weak, piecemeal proposal that will only prolong the suffering for millions of workers and families across America.  
 
“The Senate GOP proposal is a sad statement of their values, selling out struggling families at the kitchen table in order to enrich the corporate interests at the boardroom table:
 
  • Forces a $400 a week cut to the lifeline of Unemployment Insurance that millions of families are depending on to make ends meet, hurtling toward completely unworkable bureaucracy that will overwhelm already chaotic unemployment offices and risk benefits never going out at all;
  • Gives wealthy corporations a business meal tax deduction, while refusing to expand SNAP for families struggling to keep food on the table;
  • Fails to extend the eviction moratorium, while refusing to provide rental or mortgage assistance to families on the brink of eviction;
  • Provides no state and local funding to pay our heroes: our health workers, first responders, teachers, food, transit and sanitation workers and other frontline heroes risking their lives to save lives and keep the economy running, who risk losing their jobs – and will be forced onto unemployment insurance.
  • Hands liability immunity to employers who do not protect workers’ health and safety, while offering no OSHA protections to ensure workers can trust in safe workplaces;
  • Tries to bully schools to reopen without the resources to reopen safely, tying urgently-needed funding to reopening instead of safety and failing to provide adequate resources — while refusing to expand broadband to help kids who need it for school or Americans who telework or have telehealth appointments;
  • Offers no help for victims of domestic violence, despite cases skyrocketing during the lockdown;
  • Provides zero election funding or Post Office assistance, while spending $2 billion on President Trump’s priority to renovate the FBI headquarters and prevent competition for Trump Hotel and handing a $30 billion slush fund to defense contractors;
  • Refuses to have a strategic and well-funded, science-based testing plan and also abandons communities of color, with no assistance for the Black and other minority communities who are being disproportionately devastated by COVID-19.
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    “Catastrophe is looming, and until Senate Republicans get serious, they must answer to every hungry child, every family that cannot make rent, every worker being denied their UI for their delays.  Democrats remain ready to work with Republicans on real solutions to bring immediate relief and save lives and livelihoods.”
     

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