December, 19 2020, 11:00pm EDT
"Heartless" GOP Demands Turned COVID Relief Bill Into a Band-Aid
Group Calls on Congress to Pass the Legislation as a Down Payment on More Robust Response
WASHINGTON
People's Action Director George Goehl today released the following statement in response to information released about the agreement reached by congressional negotiators on COVID relief legislation:
"To say this relief package is a day late and a dollar short is an understatement to say the least. Mitch McConnell and the Senate GOP prioritized the profits of the one percent over the well-being of everyone else since this pandemic began. The result is a diluted bill that's barely a Band-Aid, but definitely a slap in the face, for people suffering across the country.
"Congress must pass this bill to address the immediate need, but let's be clear: this should be considered a down payment at best. There has been solid improvement in this bill, and that would have not been possible without grassroots organizations turning up the heat and progressive elected officials like Senator Sanders, Congresswoman Jayapal, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
"We fought tooth and nail to get people direct cash payments, even though we know a one-time, $600-per-person check isn't nearly enough to survive. We also pushed hard to make sure both extended and enhanced unemployment insurance and direct cash assistance were included instead of pitted against each other. By standing up for workers, we kept corporations accountable by rejecting the corporate liability shield. Republicans have no business protecting corporations who force workers to risk their lives just to bloat their bottom line.
"Congress should have done much more to address the housing crisis faced by tens of millions of people. It's not complicated: we need a complete moratorium on evictions, rent and mortgage cancellation, and erasure of pandemic-related housing debts. Rental assistance just means the landlord gets paid with no strings attached, not even a commitment not to evict the tenant next month if they take the money. Rental assistance also doesn't do anything to address back rent that's piling up.
"We also need funding for state and local governments to prevent deep cuts to essential local programs, services and the workforce.
"When the history books are written about this pandemic, GOP majority leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans will be remembered as heartless souls who played politics with people's lives by blocking life-saving relief for months. The GOP's unwillingness to respond urgently to the needs of the American people is exactly why all eyes are on Georgia, and the need for a new majority in the Senate. Either way, in 2021 we're ready to fight for robust relief and economic recovery under President-elect Biden."
People's Action builds the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through issue campaigns and elections.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday drew an outraged reaction after she announced that members of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board, who were appointed by President Donald Trump, had voted to add his name to the building.
In a post on X, Leavitt announced that the building would henceforth be known as the "Trump-Kennedy Center," despite the fact that the building was originally named by the US Congress in the wake of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.
"I have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center... have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center," Leavitt wrote on X, "because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation."
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Journalist Terry Moran noted that the Kennedy Center board does not have the power to rename the building without prior approval of US Congress.
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Members of the Kennedy family also expressed anger at the move to rename the center.
Former US Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) wrote on Bluesky that "the Kennedy Center is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law," and "can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says."
Journalist Maria Shriver, a niece of the late president, could barely express her anger at the decision.
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