Albany, NY – In response to the White House and Senate reaching a deal on the $2 trillion stimulus package for the coronavirus pandemic, Rosemary Rivera, Co-Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York, released the following statement:
“Together we called for a just stimulus that puts the needs of everyday people before corporations and the ultra rich. U.S. Senate Democrats heard us. Senator Chuck Schumer won hard-fought improvements to ensure small businesses will have access to money needed to keep employees on the payroll, hospitals and health centers will get much-needed assistance and unemployment insurance will be significantly expanded.
“Despite these key improvements, the Trump administration and Republicans included billions in corporate giveaways with too little oversight and too little accountability, while blocking urgent priorities, like guaranteed paid sick days, student debt forgiveness, housing assistance, recurring direct cash assistance and the inclusion of all workers in the direct assistance program, regardless of immigration status. We need our federal and state leaders to do so much more to ensure no one is left behind. The reality is that too many people were struggling to make ends meet before this crisis, living paycheck to paycheck and without the support in place to be able to weather a storm.
“In the coming days, we’re turning to Albany, where Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie are finalizing a state budget that must rise to the challenge and provide a lifeline to those in need. Here in New York, there’s no longer any Republican obstruction that can prevent Democrats from passing a state budget that begins to deal with the long-standing crisis of inequality by raising taxes on multi-millionaires and billionaires, and investing in housing, health care, education and alternatives to incarceration.”
###