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Why are Republicans, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, not acting to address the economic distress being caused by COVID-19?
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43), Chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, issued the following statement regarding the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
“For ten months, COVID-19 has ravaged our communities and impacted tens of millions of people. Just yesterday, there was a record breaking 228,767 reported cases of COVID-19. Deaths caused by the virus reached 279,012. These numbers will keep on climbing. In the last 14 days, cases have risen nine percent, deaths have risen forty-two percent, and hospitalizations have risen twenty-eight percent. This situation is getting worse, not better.
“When I look at these numbers, I see people who have lost their jobs, I see people who are wondering how in the world they will put food on the table for their children, and I see people who have been evicted from their homes. I see mothers and fathers who are struggling to facilitate virtual learning, I see families who, because of failed leadership, could not be next to their loved ones as they took their last breaths. I see people who have been abandoned by President Trump and Congressional Republicans. I see a nation that is hurt – a nation that is in need of help.
“For the struggling mother, the ill patient, and family on the verge of eviction, relief cannot come soon enough. For them, I am working incessantly to pass a COVID-19 relief bill. Make no mistake, though, Congressional Republicans would rather do nothing and watch with their feet up as complete devastation unfolds.
“For the child whose father died, the small business owner who closed shop, and the family of four experiencing homelessness, action is needed. It is with them in mind that House Democrats passed the Heroes Act, not once, but twice – only to be met with Republican stonewalling in the Senate.
“While millions upon millions suffer, Republicans have acted as if the situation we are in is business as usual. Instead of working to provide additional unemployment benefits, emergency rental assistance, and stimulus payments, Republicans have turned their backs on all of us. How is it that in the face of such struggle and such pain, they are content with their failure to act? How is it that in the face of such a devastating pandemic, they are content with ignoring science? How is it that after what they have done, they are able to look at themselves in the mirror?
“For the hundreds of thousands of people who have died, the millions who have been infected, and the many more who have been impacted, I will fight. I will fight to hold Republicans to account, and I will ensure that relief comes, and comes soon. I will not rest until this happens.
“To my fellow Members of Congress, the inability to reach an agreement on a comprehensive stimulus plan has got to stop. Problem Solvers, you can’t solve the problem by advocating for too little money. Republicans, you can’t solve the problem by not wanting to negotiate in good faith. Despite the fact that Democrats’ first recovery package was a $3.4 trillion plan, our negotiators made a great compromise and brought it down to $2.2 trillion. That seems fair and certainly is possible. Why is it that the American public has to beg their legislators to come to their aid in a time of crisis, in the time of an emergency? If representatives, elected by the people that they are supposed to represent, can’t deliver in a time of crisis, they all need to pack up their bags and go home.
“It seems to me that we could address the immediate crises of hunger and homelessness in this country by reallocating a combination of the billions of dollars used to continue to erect the President’s wall, and portions of subsidies afforded to the oil and gas industry, and big, corporate agriculture. Negotiators take a look.”
