{"id":1486,"date":"2020-12-08T20:37:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T20:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=135714"},"modified":"2020-12-08T20:37:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T20:37:54","slug":"sanders-gillibrand-warren-merkley-markey-and-wyden-urge-colleagues-to-defend-working-class-in-covid-19-relief-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/08\/sanders-gillibrand-warren-merkley-markey-and-wyden-urge-colleagues-to-defend-working-class-in-covid-19-relief-proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanders, Gillibrand, Warren, Merkley, Markey and Wyden Urge Colleagues to Defend Working Class in COVID-19 Relief Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON – Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) urged Senate Democrats today to recognize the enormity of the economic and public-health crisis posed by COVID-19 and join them \u201cin demanding that any new COVID-19 relief proposal includes a $1,200 direct payment to adults and $500 to their children,\u201d while rejecting provisions \u201cto give a liability shield to corporations who threaten the health and safety of workers and customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a letter<\/a> to their colleagues, the Senators note that COVID-19 is infecting nearly 200,000 Americans and killing 2,000 Americans daily, and argue that a bipartisan proposal under negotiation \u201cdoes not go anywhere near far enough,\u201d as America experiences \u201cthe worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.\u201d Only $348 billion in new money is currently allocated in that proposal, the Senators point out, even though \u201cthe Trump Administration and a bipartisan coalition in the House supported over $1.8 trillion in COVID-19 relief that also included another $1,200 direct payment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be unacceptable to take a major step backwards from those previous efforts by passing legislation that only included $348 billion in new money,\u201d the Senators wrote to their Democratic colleagues.<\/p>\n The lawmakers further expressed their opposition to \u201ca get-out-of-jail free card to companies that put the lives of their workers and customers at risk\u201d currently under consideration in a bipartisan COVID-19 relief measure, and cited concerns from labor groups that \u201cgranting immunity would make the country less safe at the exact moment when the COVID-19 pandemic is entering a new, dangerous phase.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter\u2019s signatories also registered their agreement \u201cwith President-elect Biden that a $1,200 direct payment should be included in this proposal,\u201d as over half of American workers live paycheck to paycheck and one in four are either unemployed or make less than $20,000 a year, while millions more face eviction and hunger.<\/p>\n Read the letter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n