Week Ending January 29, 2021
Bipartisan discussions on COVID aid continue as Congress gears up for votes next week to advance this aid, and President Joe Biden continues executive actions to provide immediate help.
- Fund the Front Lines Update – Call Your U.S. Reps TODAY
- Executive Orders from Biden Address Nation’s Challenges
- Senate Begins to Approve Biden Cabinet
- Democrats Unite to Promote Economic Security for Women and Families
Fund the Front Lines
Bipartisan talks continue as the House and the Senate prepare for votes next week as Congress rushes to act on President Joe Biden’s bold $1.9 billion American Rescue Plan, which prioritizes the needs of families and communities. The plan includes robust aid for states, counties, cities and schools to quickly distribute COVID vaccines, ensure children are learning and are cared for, and prevent cuts to essential public services to avoid further harm to our economy. We can’t afford anything less.
State & Local Aid Needed ASAP
1.4 million public employees lost their jobs since the start of this pandemic.
The December COVID aid package left out state and local aid.
Front-line public service workers like you are critical to fighting this pandemic and reopening our economy.
America can’t do either without you.
Call Your U.S. Representative
at 1-888-981-9704 and say:
“More state and local aid is needed to beat this pandemic and get our economy back on track. I urge you to support the $1.9 billion American Rescue Plan. We can’t afford anything less.”
Executive Orders Address Nation’s Challenges
Over the past two weeks, the Biden administration has been quick to introduce executive orders to address many crises facing our country. The most recent actions include:
- Delivering economic relief for families such as nutrition assistance, worker protections and by coordinating federal benefits.
- Providing access to health care by creating a special Affordable Care Act enrollment period from Feb. 15 to May 15 to help families who lost their health coverage.
- Requiring the use of face masks on all federal property, planes, trains, and intercity buses to reduce the risk of on-the-job exposure to the coronavirus and curb the spread of COVID-19 as proven by science.
- Ending federal private prison contracts to stop corporations from exploiting human lives and taxpayer dollars and returning the responsibility for prisons and prisoners to public workers.
- Advancing racial equity to promote fairness through federal actions across federal agencies covering the workplace, education, criminal justice, health care, housing, finance, and more.
Senate Begins to Approve Biden Cabinet
The Senate has begun to advance Biden’s Cabinet nominees. AFSCME applauds the confirmation of Janet Yellen as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. She will lead the administration’s economic response to the pandemic, the resulting recession, and related financial issues.
Democrats Unite to Promote Economic Security for Women and Families
All congressional Democrats united to support the newly introduced Paycheck Fairness Act, and it’s needed now more than ever. Women have borne the brunt of job losses during COVID, and the wage gap stubbornly persists.