President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion COVID relief proposal, known as the “American Rescue Plan” would prevent millions of working families from falling even deeper into poverty. It is desperately needed, because the COVID-recession has resulted in millions of low-income workers losing their jobs, working fewer hours and having to stay home to care for children out of school due to the pandemic.
Archives: Voices
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship January 29, 2021
The K-shaped recovery edition. COVID-19 daily infections are down over the past two weeks. Hospitalizations are down. Deaths are down, slightly. Vaccinations are on the rise – more than 21 million Americans have received their first shot, and the rolling average of shots per day has climbed to over one million. All of which is encouraging news. But the economic news is not so encouraging. New information out this week confirms what many have feared: we are experiencing a K-shaped recovery. The top end of the economy continues to improve while lower earners fall farther and farther behind.
Stimulus and the economy: When have we done enough?
Congress will soon be thick in the debate over whether to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan, or something like it, or something smaller. Opponents are fearful of the size of the package – and let us be clear: $1.9 trillion is a lot of money. But proponents of aggressive stimulus say that is precisely the point. We must go big – or our economic recovery will be far slower than it needs to be. And as we’ve experienced in the past, those with the lowest incomes – disproportionately people of color, families with children, and people with disabilities – will have to wait the longest to see an upturn.
CHN’s latest Human Needs Report: Biden’s COVID-19 Relief Package, Immigration Reform, the State of the Senate, and More
CHN just released another edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for the latest on President Biden’s COVID-19 relief package and sweeping immigration bill, power struggles in the Senate, and more.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship January 22, 2021
The 100 million vaccinations in 100 days edition. President Biden plans a vigorous response to the coronavirus pandemic. He has proposed a sweeping national plan to make tests and vaccines more abundant, make schools and travel safer, and help states pay for efforts to control the virus. Biden’s strategy includes aggressive use of executive authority to protect workers, advance racial equity, and ramp up the manufacturing of test kits, vaccines, and related supplies. The President envisions the creation of mass vaccination sites, including in stadiums, gyms, and community centers, along with a program to build the public health workforce to help with testing, contact tracing, and outreach.
Statement in Celebration of the Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
We welcome President Biden and Vice President Harris with high emotion. We are grieving many losses: people lost to the coronavirus, people lost to racist violence, to too many guns, to overdose, to suicide. President Biden understands our grief and is committed to presiding over a government that strives to lessen its causes. We celebrate President Biden’s swift actions to combat the four intertwined crises of pandemic, economy, systemic racism, and climate. Members of the Coalition on Human Needs are ready to join Americans nationwide to support and advance this essential work.
‘I had no choice but to quit:’ Child care crisis in the U.S. chases many out of the workplace
Eliza Navarro, a nurse in San Benito, Texas didn’t want to leave her job back in April. But when she couldn’t find child care for her two children, home from school because of COVID-19, she felt she had no choice. Like many working mothers, she has felt the pandemic’s blow to America’s already fragile and dysfunctional child care system.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, January 15, 2021
The it’s-always-darkest-before-the-dawn edition. On Thursday, January 14, 238,390 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed – up 27 percent from two weeks prior. An additional 3,973 deaths were reported – up 39 percent from two weeks ago (but down from 4,400 reported on Tuesday, January 12). The national COVID-19 death toll is approaching 400,000. Still, hope is on the horizon in two forms. First, President-elect Biden Thursday evening announced a robust proposal to corral COVID-19 and resurrect our sputtering economy. Also: after a sluggish rollout, reports suggest that the number of vaccines administered daily is on the rise. As of late this week, 28 states plus D.C. were offering the vaccine to Americans 65 years of age and older.
With Caring and Determination, President Biden Will Launch the American Rescue on Day One of His Presidency
“With COVID-19 cases surging and U.S. deaths approaching 400,000, President-Elect Biden is meeting our national emergency with caring and determination. His American Rescue Plan has the necessary scope to halt our current decline and protect millions from hardship and harm. The President-Elect and his team have done the clear-eyed analysis to know that we cannot free ourselves of this combined health and economic disaster without ramping up an ambitious schedule of vaccinations and disease prevention alongside a robust package to help our people meet basic needs
Statement from National WIC Association’s CEO on Invasion of U.S. Capitol
Yesterday, we witnessed a shocking act of domestic terrorism that should shake every one of us to our core. At this moment, we can be nothing less than honest about what we saw. A conspiracy-crazed mob, incited by lies championed by the 45th President of the United States — at a rally organized to disrupt the solemn last step in the constitutional process of validating the federal election — invaded our sacred seat of American democracy, the People’s House – the United States Capitol building.
Faith leaders ask President-elect Biden to include low-income tax credits in COVID-19 relief package
Last weekend, 45 faith leaders signed a letter encouraging President-elect Biden to include expansion of low-income tax credits in his soon-to-be-released COVID-19 relief package. “Of the many challenges you face, one of the most urgent is helping all Americans emerge from the chaos, despair, and economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus-19 pandemic,” the letter states. “The pandemic has caused untold economic devastation to millions of Americans, particularly Brown and Black Americans, and while there are many policy options at your disposal we believe that expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) can play an instrumental role in assisting millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet.”
CHN Supports Constitutional Action to Remove Donald Trump from Office
President Trump has acted in violation of his oath of office and the law by inciting violent mob action and failing to take swift steps to protect lives and our nation’s democratic institutions. He has shown himself to be “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” and should be removed, either by actions of Vice President Pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment to the Constitution, or by impeachment in the House of Representatives and conviction in the Senate.