Political Quotes

“a year ago this week, Congress began work on what would become the CARES Act, the opening salvo in a yearlong battle against what, at the time, was a strange and new disease. I don't think anyone could have anticipated that a year hence we would have lost more than 10 million jobs and over half a million citizens. Even as the vaccine makes its way across the country, and hope shimmers on the horizon, millions of Americans are still struggling with basic necessities. Folks are thousands of dollars behind on the rent and utilities. Their heat, water and power are getting shut off. More than a million Americans on unemployment insurance report that their kids aren't getting enough to eat. Sometimes the macrostatistics get in the way because the top end is doing very well, the top 10 percent or 25 percent, but so many other people are struggling. And if you just look at a big number, you say: Oh, everything is getting a little better. It is not for the lower half of America. It is not. I read about one of my constituents recently, Allilsa Fernandez, from Queens, who had a job as a home healthcare aide lined up at the start of the pandemic but couldn't take it because of her family's preexisting medical conditions. Her mother was in the hospital with COVID. Her income went from $3,400 a month to just $1,000. It was a huge, huge loss-- She said. I have medications, my electric bill, the phone bill, and [the] other costs. Every day you . . . have to make . . .…”