Editor’s note: On Friday, Sept. 25, CHN Executive Director Deborah Weinstein sent a letter to members of the U.S. Senate imploring Senators to pass robust COVID-19 legislation before they leave Washington. Excerpts from the letter are below. You can view and download the letter in its entirety here.

“Reports that there is a glimmer of hope for a coronavirus relief package before you leave Washington
impel us to write again to implore you to enact the assistance that your constituents and the nation’s
economy urgently need. The service providers, people of faith, policy experts and civil rights, labor, and
other advocacy organizations who make up the Coalition on Human Needs are seeing unprecedented
widespread economic distress due to the pandemic. New survey results covering the first half of
September show 115 million Americans reporting that someone in their household has lost earnings
since March 13 (46 percent). For Hispanic and Black households, well over half have lost income from
work. This has resulted in millions without enough to eat and falling behind in rent. More than 12
million people in households with children didn’t have enough to eat in the previous week; nearly 10
million people in households are not current in their rent. More than one in five Black and Hispanic
people are in households suffering these hardships….

“The pandemic has imperiled your constituents’ economic well-being and their health. COVID-19 cases
are again rising, and as we enter the colder months, the threat will increase. The moratorium on
evictions expires at the end of the year. If you leave now without acting, millions of people, unable to
come up with one or more months of unpaid rent, will face eviction.

“You are making a very consequential choice: either actively support and vote for robust COVID relief or
abandon your struggling constituents, likely for months. Please prevent this needless harm to people
directly threatened and to the economy as a whole….

“Time is short. With COVID cases rising and economic progress stalling, your constituents, from babies to seniors, are counting on you to act.”

To read the letter in its entirety — and to see the items CHN’s Weinstein is calling to be included in a COVID-19 relief package — go here.