Quote by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Answer: Yes it is…
Action : Call your senators and tell them “YES” on H.R.6201 (the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and “NO” to any add-ons.
One thing that is sure about this administration: Corruption follows incompetence.
Hot off the press, the House has produced HR 6201 to quickly get basic health and income protections into the hands of America workers. It hasn’t even passed the House yet, and GOP senators are already slow-walking it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated “it appears at this hour that the Speaker and House Democrats instead chose to produce an ideological wish list that was not tailored closely to the circumstances.” President Trump is sad because it doesn’t include his Social Security-busting scam of a payroll tax cut and bailouts for fossil fuel companies and Trump-owned properties.
HR 6201 (summary here) DOES include:
- Free coronavirus testing for everyone who needs a test, including the uninsured;
- Paid emergency leave with both 14 days of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family and medical leave; (This is being fought by the US Chamber of Commerce. If you belong to a local branch, have a chat.)
- Enhanced Unemployment Insurance, a first step that will extend protections to furloughed workers;
- Strengthened food security initiatives, including SNAP, student meals, seniors nutrition and food banks;
- Clear protections for frontline workers, including health care workers and other workers who are in contact with those who have been exposed or are responsible for cleaning at-risk places;
- Increased federal funds for Medicaid, as states face increased costs.
Doesn’t seem too “ideological” to us, Mr. McConnell. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been negotiating to get us immediate relief. Help her turn up the heat. Make sure your senators are on board.
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Senator [___] to advocate for HR 6201 in its original form.
More script if you want it: I also:
- …am against President’s Trump’s scam to cut Social Security in the form of a “payroll tax cut”. Not only is it an unacceptable backdoor attack on our nation’s safety net, it’s ineffective.
- …am against any bail-out money going to oil and natural gas producers. Not only do many of them pay zero taxes, but they also receive billions of dollars of subsidies from the government annually. Even the oil companies know these optics stink.
- …am against any bail-outs to huge industries, including airlines, hotels, cruise lines and watching our own president double-dipping into our tax money cookie jar. People first.
- …am against our government treating this epidemic as a classified secret. Restricting information has delayed the response to the crisis, sidelined experts and provided misleading or incomplete information to the public and public officials. (Here’s a good source)
- …want the location of travel bans to be determined by actual experts, not by where our president owns resorts.
- …want publicly available plans by all the big prison companies and ICE facilities describing how they are going to ensure the health of both the incarcerated, including children, and staff.
- …want guarantees that new rules designed to discourage certain immigrants from using taxpayer-funded services won’t apply to those seeking tests or other treatments for the coronavirus.
- …want testing to be available to Americans as they are to, say, South Koreans, who have tested over 100,000 people and are testing more at over 10,000 people a day. We’ve reached 20,685 total, which is absurd for a country with supposedly the greatest medical system on earth. Seriously!
Contact
Senator Feinstein: email, DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
and Senator Harris: email, DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884
Who is my representative/senator?:https://whoismyrepresentative.com
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 