Tell the Senate:
“The House passed essential COVID-19 relief legislation on Saturday. Now, we need the Senate to act swiftly. Millions of families are struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic, and states, schools and local governments need our help to ensure they have the resources to keep our communities safe.”
Click here to send a letter to your Senators today.
The House voted on Saturday to send the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package to the Senate.We are getting closer to sending much needed relief to struggling families and cash-strapped states.
Now, we need the Senate to act. There is no margin of error in the Senate.
Write to your U.S. Senators right now, urging them to pass this $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, which will provide aid to millions of U.S. households―to put more money in the pockets of low- and no-income families, cut childhood poverty in half and protect families against eviction and hunger.
There are new reports that some Senators are backing off of their commitment to provide essential aid to states, schools and local governments—money that’s urgently needed to continue to provide essential services during and beyond the pandemic.
Click here to send a letter to your Senators today.
President Biden’s $1.9 trillion federal stimulus bill contains $350 billion in relief for state and local governments, plus $170 billion for education. These funds will play a critical role for dozens of states that have hemorrhaged tax revenue during the pandemic recession. Alaska, for instance, saw state revenues fall by more than 42% during the pandemic. And it is needed to allow schools to open safely, with the extra help children will need if they’ve fallen behind.
The bill, passed by the U.S. House, provides truly important help where it is most needed. It would extend jobless benefits, provide substantial increases to the Child Tax Credit and EITC—which would cut childhood poverty nearly in half—fund housing and nutrition aid, provide $1,400 direct payments to people throughout our country, fund vaccine distribution, prevent child care providers from shutting down permanently, expand health care, and much more.
This direct aid to people, families and communities is critical to helping those struggling from loss of income, and it’s critical to getting us through this deadly pandemic.
While the House measure extends unemployment benefits, we need it to go further. Millions of families throughout our country are facing the dire circumstances of losing a job through no fault of their own. The House bill lets jobless benefits expire at the end of August. Economists know that’s not enough time, and worse, Congress will be in recess and unable to extend benefits in a timely way. Together, we need to make sure Congress extends this essential lifeline to at least early October.
The Human Needs Report is CHN’s newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and other vulnerable populations.
