Political Quotes

“this amendment will cause harm to the families of incarcerated individuals, joint filers who would receive only half of the payment that the families are owed while the spouse is incarcerated. Given the stark racial disparities in our criminal justice system, this would cause the most harm to Black and Brown families and communities already harmed by mass incarceration. Children should not be forced to go hungry because a parent is incarcerated. Relief payments would allow families to replace lost income and pay rent and put food on the table. The Cassidy amendment sweeps broadly, denying recovery of rebates not only to incarcerated individuals but also to anyone violating a condition of probation on parole, but the Social Security statute that Senator Cassidy's amendment copies from has a safety valve giving discretion to allow payments to persons because of mitigating circumstances. His amendment does not. I would urge my colleagues to understand what we are facing with our criminal justice system today. We need to bring more justice to it and caring for the families of those who are incarcerated.”