Issue Position: COVID-19 Relief

Issue Position

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are being felt in every aspect of our lives, and our government's response must be swift, comprehensive, and laser-focused on helping working families. Our national response should focus not only on weathering this difficult time, but on coming out stronger on the other end.

To mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and to treat the millions of Americans who will contract the disease, the federal government must enforce social distancing, fully resource hospitals with personal protective equipment, ventilators, and other emergency medical supplies, mobilize FEMA and the resources of the Department of Defense to provide additional hospital capacity, and invoke the Defense Production Act to mobilize private sector supply chains to help address the pandemic.

To protect Americans economically, the federal government must:

-- Provide monthly cash payments to Americans.

--Ensure paid sick leave for all workers.

--Suspend debt payments for consumers and small businesses, including mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and credit cards.

--Suspend rent payments and prohibit evictions during the pandemic.

--Prohibit debt collection during the pandemic and for 120 days after the pandemic.

--Suspend all negative consumer credit reporting during the pandemic.

--Aggressively fund emergency assistance for people experiencing homelessness.

--Ban stock buybacks temporarily to ensure corporations spend any federal assistance on paying workers and investing in their communities.

--Mandate the release of low-risk individuals in pretrial detention because of money bail.

--Provide assistance for states to conduct elections with mail-in ballots.

After the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, Charles supports a large-scale, federally-supported public works program to put the country back to work repairing and rebuilding our nation's infrastructure.

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