Van Hollen Statement on the Republican’s Inadequate COVID-19 Proposal
Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) released the following statement regarding his vote in opposition to Senator Mitch McConnell’s vastly inadequate COVID-19 proposal:
“As our country continues to battle the unprecedented crisis of COVID-19, we need real leadership. Instead, we’ve got a President who for months has knowingly worked to cover up the severity of this deadly disease and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell who is either unwilling or unable to grasp the needs of this moment. Today’s Republican proposal utterly fails to address the challenges our country is facing. Not only is their plan totally inadequate but it does real harm. It both denies sufficient funding to public schools and, dangerously, penalizes those schools that, for safety reasons, have not returned to the classrooms to the extent Republican senators would like. At the same time, while shortchanging public schools, the McConnell bill gives large new subsidies to private schools and tax breaks to millionaires to provide their children with private tutoring. I call on our colleagues to put politics aside and put the American people first. Anything less is a dereliction of duty.”
The Republican proposal put forward today does not address any of the following:
- Nutrition funding
- Rental or Mortgage Assistance
- Support for nursing homes, hospitals, and community health centers
- Health care coverage for COVID-19 treatment
- Worker protections and hazard pay
- Election assistance
- Broadband internet access
- State and local funding
- Mass transit support/funding
- Direct payments for American families