After months of callous inaction & cynical delays, Senate Republicans finally introduce COVID response proposal that falls far short for New Yorkers; Schumer calls on leader McConnell to immediately come to the table with Senate Democrats, adopt urgently needed elements including: billions for safe schools, municipalities, small businesses, frontline workers to help Upstate NY rebuild & recover from pandemic

Statement

After months of urging Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to deliver new COVID-related assistance for a nation still reeling from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer today expressed disappointment at the inadequacies of the long-overdue Senate Republicans' Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools (HEALS) Act and called on Senate Republicans to stop their dithering and caucus infighting and to immediately begin negotiations with Senate Democrats and adopt urgently needed proposals that will provide robust funding for needy New Yorkers and a recovering New York. Schumer explained that the HEALS Act does little to provide aid for the most severely impacted communities and individuals and contains nothing for national priorities such as state and local aid, hazard pay, child nutrition, SNAP, U.S. Postal Service, and more.

"As communities across New York State rebuild and recover from a global pandemic, this new proposal falls dreadfully short of providing the relief they need," said Senator Schumer. "The HEALS Act, which does not even have the full support of the Republican Caucus, is haphazard and tilted to special interests rather than the urgent needs of suffering citizens need to beat back and recover from the crisis. The infighting and dithering must stop so we can finally get to work and deliver to the mom and pop businesses across Upstate New York, so our schools can open and operate safely, and our communities get the resources and assistance they need to get back to normal. The House passed a comprehensive relief package over two months ago, and I have been ready and willing since then to negotiate a package that provides real help for struggling Americans. Enough dithering and delay, let's get to work for the American people in need -- renters, the unemployed, the sick and our students and parents."

Schumer said the HEALS Act is inadequate, ignores the needs of the current economic and health crisis and fails to provide support for crucial relief to New York's families, workers, small businesses, and unemployed. The Senate Republican proposal provides not a single extra penny towards state and local aid, which localities have been demanding for months, ignores the plight of the USPS, which could go bankrupt without additional federal aid, ties much needed school funding to reopening plans, which school districts across Upstate New York have fought against, and skips over housing assistance for rent, mortgage, and utility payments. Additionally, the HEALS Act does not contain any additional money for EIDL grants and loans which have been crucial to helping farmers Upstate during the crisis, provides inadequate funding for a testing strategy that will help New York recover, and grossly underestimates the amount of federal support hospitals and health systems need to maintain operations and continue the fight against COVID-19.

The senator also questioned the presence of several extraneous items in the Senate Republican funding bill, such as $1.75 billion for the construction of a new FBI headquarters intended to prop up the value of the neighboring Trump hotel and $8 billion for Navy and Air Force weapons procurement. Additionally, Schumer noted that the HEALS Act contains $30 billion for defense contractor bailouts, but no additional funding towards safekeeping democracy through election security programs or the U.S. Postal Service, both of which are in dire need of federal aid. The bill also does not include funding for broadband which is needed now more than ever for workers, students and families to cope with this pandemic.

The senator also expressed concern about Senate Republicans' single-minded push for corporate legal immunity, which they falsely claim is justified by a "tsunami' of lawsuits by workers and consumers, even though no such wave has materialized.

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