On the recordDecember 21, 2020
Help is on the way. Help cannot come faster. Help is desperately needed. Seventeen million Americans are infected by COVID-19. Almost 320,000 are dead, and the numbers keep growing. Hospital beds are overutilized. Cities across America are getting refrigerated trucks. Help is on the way. People are being evicted, and this legislation helps us stop the evictions. It provides for cash disbursements, up to $2,400 for a family of four and $300 extra in weekly unemployment payments. For hungry families, 54 million hungry families in America, including our young military personnel, help is on the way. This bill is a bill we wrote months ago. It is downsized, but it is the very language that we have written. So we know, in the new year, we will come back again to save lives. Let's get this done in unity. We know how it was blocked. We know the other House did not move forward. We know we did not get leadership on this bill. But as I close, let me thank Secretary Shalala, Congresswoman Shalala, for what she brought to this Congress, what insight, what specialness, and what kindness. We wish you the very best, and I look forward to working with you in the future. Mr. Speaker, help is on the way. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support for the Rule that the House is debating to provide for the consideration of the Fiscal Year appropriations for the federal government and urgently needed COVID-19 relief funding.…
