EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS AND KEEP LIABILITY LAWS
ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS
SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
As you address the Republican’s answer to HEROES Act, please make the HEROES Act unemployment insurance benefits a non-negotiable, and refuse Senate demands to lift liability for workers’ safety. Thank you.
CALL SENATOR MERKLEY
CALL SENATOR WYDEN
ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR HOUSE REPS
Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here.
SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
If the Senate passes another stimulus package, and the House considers whether to support it, please make the HEROES Act unemployment insurance benefits a non-negotiable, and refuse Senate demands to lift liability for workers’ safety. Thank you.
CALL SUZANNE BONAMICI (OR-01)
CALL GREG WALDEN (OR-02)
CALL BLUMENAUER (OR-03)
CALL PETER DEFAZIO (OR-04)
CALL KURT SCHRADER (OR-05)
ACTION THREE: GET OUT THE VOTE VIRTUALLY.
Sign up for a virtual letter-writing event.
Indivisible Oregon is hosting virtual letter writing parties on May 30 and June 6. Sign up at https://swingleft.org/group/indivisible-oregon
Or write letters to voters from home whenever it’s convenient for you. Register with Vote Forward to get started at votefwd.org
Host your own virtual letter-writing party! Get started here: http://swingleft.org/p/virtual-letter-writing-party
BACKGROUND:
Sen. McConnell already announced he opposes extending the $600/week unemployment benefit passed in the HEROES Act. He thinks he has cover from:
- the Congressional Budget Office, which concluded that continuing the benefit would damage the economy in 2021.
- a drop in unemployment, either to 13% or 16% depending on whether you count the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s misclassification of 5 million unemployed people.
Regardless, at least 21 million people are out of work. Economic activity is far below pre-pandemic levels. There will be no jobs to find come July 31 when benefits end. Black and brown workers will feel the pain disproportionately given generations of barriers to building up assets and savings. The cruelty and indifference among Republicans is breathtaking.
Under McConnell, the Senate will wait until the July 20 work period to even consider another relief bill. That doesn’t leave much time before the August recess begins.
McConnell could be holding unemployment benefits hostage to extort relaxations in liability laws covering businesses that don’t protect their workers.
Democrats must stand firm. Congress must keep liability laws in place as a brake on greed. And they must renew the COVID-19 unemployment benefits.
SOURCES:
Republican response to HEROES Act:
BLS flubs the unemployment numbers:
