Senate Stimulus Bill Is a Slap In The Face To Front-Line Workers, Black-Owned Businesses
NEW YORK (October 19, 2020) -- National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial issued the following statement regarding the revival of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “skinny” stimulus plan:
“The grossly inadequate stimulus bill scheduled for a vote in the Senate on Wednesday is almost a bigger insult than no bill at all. Cities and states have struggled valiantly to continue providing essential, life-saving services throughout a pandemic that has stripped their revenue by about half. The Senate bill is a slap in the face to every front-line worker and first responder who has put his or her life at risk to serve the public. More than 1.2 million state and municipal workers already are among the tens of millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and are waiting desperately for a lifeline the Senate seems intent on denying them. Millions more will follow if the Senate continues on its chosen course.
“Furthermore, more than half of Black-owned small businesses could be shuttered in the next six months without adequate federal relief, according to a survey released just today. McConnell’s plan callously ignores their plight.
“I implore the Senate leadership to open their eyes to the economic disaster that is enfolding all around them. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell already has warned them of the ‘tragic’ consequences of their failure to pass a realistic stimulus package. All the partisan posturing in the world won’t keep firefighters at the ready or nurses in the emergency rooms. The American people cannot be deluded into survival.”
The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. The National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its 90 local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people annually nationwide. Visit www.nul.org and follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @NatUrbanLeague.