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Statement

The Relief Package Released Today Suggests the Trump Administration and Senate Republicans Know Nothing About the Plight of the Families They Are Supposed to Represent

July 27, 2020
Federal Budget

Lisa Lederer, 202/371-1996

Statement of leaders of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on the Republican coronavirus relief package unveiled this afternoon:

“Children and seniors are going hungry, moms and kids are being evicted, families are being plunged deeply into debt, and people are watching their savings, college and retirement funds – built up over a lifetime – dwindle and disappear. Yet the package U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans just released utterly fails to meet this moment of crisis in a meaningful way, and the time it took them to develop it all but ensures there will be gaps in eviction protections, unemployment boosts, and other supports families urgently need. The U.S. House passed the HEROES Act months ago while McConnell wasted time, bringing us to yet another crisis point that our economy and our families cannot afford.

“The oft-repeated Republican talking point, suggesting that people would rather collect unemployment benefits than return to their jobs, is insulting, tone-deaf, and just plain wrong. It’s as if they haven’t even met the constituents they are supposed to represent. Republicans’ cruel stinginess with families stands in stark contrast to their boundless generosity for corporations, which they shower with bailouts and tax breaks time and again.

“Congress and the Trump administration must urgently continue, and not reduce, the $600 per week unemployment boost, which is all that is standing between hunger, homelessness, and devastation for millions of families. The existing unemployment program is keeping our economy and families afloat; weakening a system we know is working would be foolish and cruel. Congress and the Trump administration also must:

  • Stabilize and support the child care industry;
  • Ensure all workers have paid family and medical leave and can earn paid sick days, during this crisis and after it ends;
  • Guarantee that vital nutrition programs like SNAP and free school meals are available to all who need them and increase benefits to address the increased need; and
  • Provide more adequate funds for cities and states, to ensure essential services and prevent unemployment from getting even worse, including an influx of funds for K-12 schools so they can safely and adequately function in the coming school year, regardless of what it looks like.

“The Republican plan released today would leave moms and families to struggle, suffer, and go without supports that allow them to meet their basic needs”

-Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising

“Make no mistake: President Trump’s monstrously failed response to this public health emergency is exacerbating and prolonging the economic and educational crises it created. The reason people cannot return to work is because jobs have disappeared. The reason people cannot return to their workplaces and parents fear sending their children back to school is because our COVID-19 testing has failed. The reason communities of color, seniors, and people with pre-existing conditions are at such high risk is because we have failed to institute basic safety and protective measures. All that needs to change.

“The country does not want cuts to the benefits that are keeping families afloat. We do not want immigrant families excluded from services they pay taxes to support. We do not want lawmakers to prioritize shielding businesses from liability over supporting families.

“Moms and families are facing an all-hands-on-deck emergency right now and the Republican relief plan Senate leaders unveiled today would completely fail the country. We deserve, and we demand, better.”

-Statement of Elyssa Schmier, National Director, National Budget and Taxes, MomsRising

 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.