On the recordDecember 3, 2020
This week, December's rent and mortgage payments came due for millions of Americans, marking another gut- wrenching deadline for families who have been forced to make the impossible decision between putting food on the table or keeping a roof overhead. We have been asking for months for the Senate to take up one of the relief packages that the House has passed and sent for consideration or for the Senate to come up with its own COVID relief proposal. While there has finally been some movement this week, it is way overdue. My constituents cannot wait any longer. As the coronavirus surges yet again in my region, I hear every single day from folks who have exhausted every resource to scrape by, but they cannot make ends meet without more relief. These are folks like Denise from Linwood. Last spring, she and her husband both lost their jobs in the hospitality industry. They have two kids at home learning virtually. Now they are faced with the expiration of unemployment benefits, and they fear eviction come January. Ann from Wayne is a schoolteacher who is trying to get a COVID test so she can take care of her elderly mother and do her job, but she has had to jump through hoop after hoop because we still lack a national testing strategy. My constituents and our local officials are doing everything in their power to feed their families and stay safe. It is past time that the Federal Government does the same. America is waiting. ____________________
