Last week, we saw the deadline to extend key unemployment benefits expire and the week before that our families lost the protection of the federal eviction moratorium. Our families are hurting in this COVID economy, yet U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate sit there and do nothing.

It’s time to take a stand!

**Send a letter to the editor to your local paper calling on your senators to take immediate action to help families and our economy!

(When you click here we’ll walk you through all the easy steps to submit a letter to the editor)

Last week, U.S. Senate Majority Leader McConnell and his cronies in the White House released their horrifyingly inadequate plan for the next COVID-relief bill. And no surprise here—it’s a corporations first, families and our economy last approach to relief, which of course is no relief at all. They are failing to negotiate with the Democrats, have let key supports our families and economy rely on expire, and are simply arguing amongst themselves about whether or not another COVID package should even be passed. Infuriating right!?

This is an emergency. We need our Senators to reject Mitch McConnell’s weak proposal, which cuts unemployment benefits, ties K-12 education spending to schools physically reopening, and allows business execs to write off 100% of their meals, while doing nothing to increase food stamp benefits or help immigrant families who are on the front lines of fighting COVID. Instead, we need our elected leaders to pass a bold, comprehensive families- and economy-first package which extends the $600/week boost in unemployment benefits, expands paid family leave and earned sick days, provides robust funding for childcare and K-12 education, and gives our families the no-cost testing, care, and vaccinations we need to fight COVID-19.

Your U.S. Senators are very important in this fight. One of the most high impact, powerful things you can do right now is send a letter to the editor to your local paper calling on your elected leaders to do the right thing.

***Click here to use our super helpful and easy tool that will help you submit a letter to the editor to your local paper.

Why do letters to the editor matter so much? Simply put—U.S. Senators read their local papers! By submitting a letter, you are helping us raise the profile on this very important issue and ringing the alarm bells that we expect the Senate to take immediate action to help struggling families and our hurting economy.

Don’t worry—sending the Letter to the Editor is super easy! When you click on the link above, we’ll lead you through a quick process to write a Letter to the Editor to your local newspaper. This tool is pretty magical—you can easily edit our pre-drafted letter if you wish (inserting your personal story if you have one!) and send it to your paper with just a few clicks.

The pre-drafted letter (which you can edit and add your personal story when you click through to the link!) simply says:

“Our families are hurting! COVID-19 cases are starting to surge again, the unemployment rate, especially among women of color, is still in the tens of millions, and our families don’t know when or if our kids will be able to return to school or childcare, meaning we don’t know when or if we’ll be able to return to work.

We need a families- and economy-first approach to COVID-relief, NOT a corporations-first approach.

Unfortunately Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposal last week just doesn’t cut it. The HEALS Act prioritizes the needs of corporations over the lives and livelihoods of struggling families. Our economy will recover only when our families have the supports they need.

We are counting on our US Senators to stand up for our families and pass a robust, comprehensive COVID-relief bill which extends the $600/week boost in unemployment benefits, expands paid family leave and earned sick days, provides robust funding for childcare and K-12 education, protects immigrant families who are on the front lines fighting COVID, and gives our families the no-cost testing, care, and vaccinations we need to fight COVID-19.”

***Can we count on YOU to send a letter to your local paper? We’ll walk you through all the easy steps so you can make your voice heard on this important issue.

After you submit your own Letter to the Editor, please forward this email to friends—and also post the action link on Facebook, including in any Facebook groups you are in. The more of us who send letters, the bigger the impact will be.

Thanking you so much for continuing to take action and speak up for all families during this pandemic. Your actions are making a difference!

P.S. Can you do one more very important thing? Call your Senators and tell them to extend unemployment insurance, especially the $600 boost in benefits, immediately! Just text ExtendUI to 747464 and we’ll connect you directly to your Senator’s office (if you call back a second time, you’ll be connected to your other Senator!).

P.P.S. We also want to hear from you how COVID is impacting your family. Please share your story with us here (and we will share it with your elected leaders).