Press Release
Statement: We Have No Time to Celebrate: Congress Must Pass COVID Relief Bill Now
The nightmare is almost over. Donald Trump, who became President by stoking racial grievances and fear, shamelessly attacking the very birthright of the nation’s first Black president, and then as President embracing the worse tendencies of our political culture – contempt for the vulnerable, resentment, populist racism, corruption and economic advantage – lost his bid to take this country backwards.
What the election results mean and what voters were saying can be debated in the days, weeks, and months ahead. You can even speculate on why Trump made gains among Black and Latinx voters this election cycle.
But these are all conversations for another day. The urgent need now is to right this country’s course. First and foremost, Congress must pass a major relief bill. Second, we must adopt a clear pro-science national strategy to control COVID-19, something President-Elect Joe Biden has already started to pull together. The coronavirus is spreading rapidly across the country, the body count is growing, and hospitals are strained. Millions of people of all ages, races and ethnicities are unemployed, face eviction, struggle to put food on the table and are desperate for help. We must do something meaningful, and do it quickly, to avoid the kind of national devastation heretofore only seen in horror movies.
The Trump Administration, House Democrats and Senate Republicans must break their stalemate to provide immediate emergency relief to Americans before the long and potentially deadly winter takes hold. Some may think it is better for Democrats to hold out until January, after Biden takes office. This would be disastrous for the families and workers still struggling from the devastating impact of the pandemic on the economy. Without federal aid, state and local governments face a future of deep cuts and layoffs, with working families and the most vulnerable bearing the brunt.
But the nation can’t wait. This is no time for Democrats to worry about their future political fortunes. Everyone, no matter what their party, must focus right this minute on crafting legislation to provide real, substantial COVID-19 relief, and then put differences aside to push it across the finish line. We are facing down what may be one of the most treacherous periods in American history. Beating the virus’s impact is going to take everything we have and then some. Let’s put partisan politics aside and get to work.