August 2021
- Infrastructure Week Is Here
- Happy Birthday, Medicare!
- Emergency Rental Assistance is Available
- Child Tax Credit
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness
- National Labor Relations Board Confirmations
Infrastructure week is here!
Infrastructure week is finally upon us. The approximately $1 trillion proposal unveiled recently makes serious investments in our public infrastructure, including our roads, highways and bridges, along with improving our water systems. But we still need to do more: We need the Senate to pass the budget reconciliation bill so we can repair and rebuild America’s community and family infrastructure by investing in child care, home care, core public health infrastructure and more.
Happy Birthday, Medicare!
AFSCME President Lee Saunders joined Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) and a host of advocacy groups to celebrate Medicare’s 56th anniversary and demand that Congress act quickly to slash the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs.
Emergency Rental Assistance is Available
For millions of renters across the country, the only thing that has kept a roof over their heads during the pandemic is a federal eviction moratorium. But help is available. As part of the American Rescue Plan – a historic law made possible in part by AFSCME members – the federal government is providing renters and landlords $46 billion through its Emergency Rental Assistance program.
People who need assistance may apply for emergency rental assistance through their local program and right now emergency rental assistance is available across the country.
Child Tax Credit
Families who qualify began seeing the child tax credit in their accounts last month. The credit provides families who qualify with up to $3,600 for each child under 6 and up to $3,000 for each child between 6 and 17. Use AFSCME’s tool to see if and what your family qualifies for.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
AFSCME is part of a broad effort to persuade the Biden administration to cancel debt for all public service workers who have made payments on their federal loans for a decade, as well as canceling up to $50,000 of debt per borrower for those with direct federal loans. AFSCME is also urging the Biden administration to extend a moratorium on federal student loan payments, which is set to expire on Sept. 30.
- Additional shareables: here
National Labor Relations Board Confirmations
Thanks to President Biden’s nominations, pro-worker voices now have a majority at the NLRB as Gwynne Wilcox and David Prouty were confirmed by the Senate last week, joining Jennifer Abruzzo who was confirmed as the General Counsel for the NLRB earlier in July.
- Gwynne Wilcox, Additional shareable: here
- David Prouty, Additional shareable: here
- Jennifer Abruzzo, Additional shareable: here