FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
AUGUST 13, 2020

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Senate Republicans Head Home Without Passing COVID Relief Package, Leaving Millions of Americans Behind

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Senate Republicans adjourned for the summer without passing a coronavirus relief package. Despite the fact that the House Democrats spearheaded and passed the HEROES Act months ago, which would extend life-saving financial support to millions of newly unemployed Americans, the Senate Republicans refused to vote on that package, instead content to let unemployment insurance benefits and other lifelines run out. 

Tax March Executive Director Maura Quint issued the following response:

“What have Republicans delivered for the millions of Americans in need of direct aid right now? A smattering of do-nothing presidential memoranda from the do-nothing president, one of which just shifts the responsibility of extending unemployment assistance to state governments — the same state governments roiled in budget crises Trump refuses to remedy. Instead of delivering real aid to struggling families, Trump and his friends in the Senate wrote down a whole bunch of nothing on a stack of paper and set sail for the summer.

I hope Senate Republicans enjoy their summer vacations. You know who won’t? The parents whose children are being prematurely forced into schools that are infection hotspots. The frontline workers who still haven’t received sufficient hazard pay and face disproportionate risk of infection. The millions of people who are now without a paycheck because Trump and McConnell refused to extend pandemic unemployment assistance. If these senators have any conscience whatsoever, they’ll turn back around and pass the HEROES Act before they head out of town.”