This election is too important to wait until the last moment. We all must take extra effort to plan ahead. We all must make sure we don’t let this opportunity to stand up for our shared priorities and vote to protect human needs go by. We can’t afford not to vote
Archives: Voices
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship October 2, 2020
The Americans are broke edition. Nearly 180 million Americans face the possibility of having their utilities cut off. More and more can’t make rent or put food on the table. Just yesterday, more airline workers lost their jobs than at any point in U.S. aviation history. And at Disney, once the “happiest place on Earth,” 28,000 just-laid-off workers aren’t so happy. State governments are facing a combined shortfall of $555 billion over the next few years. It is not too late to tell Senators to do the jobs they were elected to do – protect the American people.
Economic recovery, food insecurity and COVID-19: ‘To err on the side of too little is more dangerous than to err on the side of too much’
It’s no surprise that a rising number of Americans are turning towards the government for financial support. Since the pandemic began, we’ve seen ways of furloughs and layoffs; while some jobs have returned, the nation’s economic outlook remains dire. Still, the Senate delays action on extending assistance. To delay desperately needed relief by choosing to leave Washington when so many people are facing loss of earnings and hunge shows a remarkable lack of concern during a time of great and dire need.
CLASP: ICE must stop enforcement during the pandemic
On March 18, 2020, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it would largely be halting immigration enforcement in response to the spread of COVID-19 and noted that immigrants should not avoid seeking health care for fear of deportation. Despite the very damaging threats to public health, ICE resumed immigration enforcement in mid-July. Just last month, ICE arrested Alicia Flores Gonzalez, a mother of four U.S. citizen children, and within 24 hours ICE deported her from the country. Ms. Flores was apprehended by immigration enforcement after dropping her daughter off at child care and going to work.
CHN’s Weinstein calls on members of the U.S. Senate to pass COVID-19 relief before departing
On Friday, Sept. 25, CHN Executive Director Deborah Weinstein sent a letter to members of the U.S. Senate imploring Senators to pass robust COVID-19 legislation before they leave Washington.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship September 25, 2020
The abandonment edition. It is becoming increasingly evident that Sen. Mitch McConnell and his GOP colleagues are prepared to abandon their constituents in their time of dire need. They have resisted a vote on a robust COVID-19 aid package. Senators are planning to leave town – and look at the carnage they are leaving behind in the wake of their hasty retreat. More than 200,000 deaths – roughly one in every 1,600 people in the U.S. has died of COVID-19 — and on Friday the U.S. eclipsed 7 million confirmed cases. Progress in slowing the march of the pathogen has stalled. Twenty-eight states plus Puerto Rico have shown increases in the seven-day average of new cases since the final week of August.
Voting in the era of COVID-19
In March, when the United States shut down due to coronavirus, the upcoming election was pushed to the back burner in the minds of many as people struggled to be financially secure and stop the spread of the virus. Many months later, individuals are still grappling with the lack of federal resources, students have begun virtual learning, large social gatherings are still being avoided, and masks have become the new normal everywhere. As the Nov. 3 election approaches in the unexpected midst of COVID-19, we need to ask: will voting at the polls be safe?
CHN’s COVID-19: Tracking Hardship September 18, 2020
The 200,000 deaths edition. Within days, the death toll from COVID-19 in the U.S. will surpass 200,000. At some point we have to ask Sen. Mitch McConnell and his obstinate band of Republican cohorts, how many lives is too many? And how long and how deeply must our nation suffer? Unemployed Americans already have lost the $600 weekly UI benefit that expired at the end of July. Now millions of Americans are seeing their state UI paychecks vanish as well, as 26-week time limits expire. A child care crisis is unfolding before our very eyes, as many people cannot go back to work without access to affordable child care. Overburdened state and local governments are cutting programs right and left, even though we need more investment, not less. And still: not a dime from the U.S. Senate.
Low-Income Renters Were on the Edge in “Good Times” – The Pandemic Will Push Millions Over the Edge If Congress Does Not Act
With rent swallowing up so much of income, even in “good times,” it is clear that Congress must act to protect people from eviction by providing assistance so tenants can pay their back rent. Even for those who go back to work at no reduction in income, if they have only one month’s back rent to pay, that plus the current rent will take every cent of their earnings. Many will owe much more than one month of back rent, and many are going back to work at reduced hours, if they do not join the ranks of long-term jobless.
Checks and balances: The Trump Administration continues to rack up losses in the nation’s courts
Executive actions by the Trump Administration have resulted in 132 court decisions, handed down by U.S. District Courts, U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Of those 132 decisions, 111 have gone against the Trump Administration, while 21 have gone the President’s way – for a loss-win percentage of 84 percent to 16 percent. As bad as the Administration’s loss-win record has been lately, it might surprise you to learn that it actually has improved, compared with almost a year ago.
CHN’s Deborah Weinstein: Precarious Gains of 2019 Snatched Away by Pandemic
The news about last year’s income and poverty progress is in a way heartbreaking. Workers have struggled to make gains, working hard to provide economic security for their families. What is heartbreaking is that hard-won gains have been snatched away by the pandemic and its economic toll. But Senate Majority Leader McConnell and his caucus seem prepared to abandon millions of their constituents – to leave Washington without agreeing to further COVID-19 relief.
National Women’s Law Center: Housing is a human right — women’s lives depend on it
COVID-19 and the she-cession have exacerbated a housing crisis with disproportionate gender and racial impacts. New NWLC research shows that in mid-July, 41% of Black, non-Hispanic women and 45% of Latinas faced housing insecurity, more than two and a half times the housing insecurity white, non-Hispanic men face (15%). Those rates increased to 45% for Black, non-Hispanic women with children and 49% for Latinas with children.