An Open Letter to Congress (7/29/20) on the 4th Covid 19 Stimulus Package
I want to urge you to rapidly compromise on a fourth stimulus package to address the Covid 19 pandemic. For me the highest priorities are slowing and reversing the spread of the pandemic and alleviating the suffering of those unemployed, salvaging small businesses and reopening in the safest manner possible. The national GDP has just fallen by 33% for the second quarter; 4.5 million Americans have been infected and over 154,000 have already died. People need a roof over their heads and food on the table for their children and themselves while we work as fast as possible to develop a vaccine and get everyone vaccinated — a timeline that if all works to perfection would be early next spring.
1. Funding for testing and contact tracing. Here in Los Angeles, testing is widespread, but only if you have symptoms or are at high risk; results are very slow to come. Contact tracing is happening promptly but is often incomplete. Deaths are four times as high in poor neighborhoods as they are in the higher income neighborhoods. http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/coronavirus/data/index.htm I urge your support for the House version of testing and contact tracing.
2. Funding for the unemployed. Our region’s unemployment rate has quintupled to 20% and is five times as high as it was at the start of the year. https://ycharts.com/indicators/los_angeles_ca_unemployment_rate This is causing widespread hunger, homelessness and despair. For many years I have participated as a Board Member at the St. Joseph’s Center in Venice, CA and know firsthand the experiences of our low and moderate income residents. In California, the UI system was utterly overwhelmed with new applicants and unable to keep up with the surge of applications. The $600 weekly bonus is critical to keeping families together, housed and fed. Standard UI benefits are only a small fraction of people’s wages, often a very small fraction. The jobs simply aren’t there; it’s not a question of people unwilling to work, it’s the fact that there are no jobs for them. I would urge that you assure UI payments equal to an individual’s wages until such time as the nation’s economy returns to some semblance of normal unemployment. In the interim the House version is imminently preferable to the Senate Republican proposal to reduce UI benefits quite dramatically. The House version also increases Food Stamps benefits by $25 per person per month — an increase badly needed when wages have disappeared for too many low wage families.
3. Funding for small businesses. I ran a small business for over 20 years, served as counsel to the California Small Business Association and have worked closely with Small Business Majority and Small Business California. My wife has run a small business for the past five years. In our neighborhood and in the streets in our area half the small businesses have closed. PPP and EIDL were well intentioned, but badly flawed in execution, and it has been impossible for many legitimate neighborhood small businesses to get through the process and qualify. The bad behavior of the big banks and the big well capitalized businesses in soaking up all the funds is well known, but should not be used as an excuse to deny funds to the struggling local barbers, restaurants, tourist and hospitality based small businesses whose businesses cannot recover until there is an effective and distributed vaccine. I would urge the Senate GOP version as a starting point to properly design and target assistance to local small employers.
4. Funding for state and local government. I worked in California’s state legislature for nearly a decade and worked with county government officials for over two decades on state and local financing for health programs. I still follow the state budget in my retirement. Covid 19 has blown an enormous hole in state tax revenues and boosted the need for state and county expenditures on health and social services. In California, our state budget hole was $54 billion. The recently approved state budget has made many painful reductions and depends on receiving $14 billion in additional federal assistance. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/06/29/governor-newsom-signs-2020-budget-act/ Much of the federal funds received to date have been transferred to schools, county and municipal governments to support their vital local services to the public. I would urge that you use the House version as starting point to help state and local governments to maintain essential health, social service, law enforcement and vital educational services.
5. The stimulus checks for low, moderate and middle-income taxpayers. These checks were essential to boost consumer spending during the huge job losses and economic hardship and uncertainty. However, college age students were left out – i.e. two of my six grandchildren. Deceased taxpayers were left in, and US citizens in mixed status households were excluded. I urge you to include college age students and all US citizens in mixed status households and to explicitly exclude the deceased from the next round of stimulus checks.
6. Health coverage for laid off workers. Over 40 million Americans have experienced lay-offs. For far too many they also have lost employment-based health coverage for themselves and their families. In some states, like Texas, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi, they cannot qualify for Medicaid because the state has not chosen to accept enhanced Medicaid funding for those newly eligible under the ACA (ObamaCare). In other states, the newly unemployed are experiencing financial challenges and administrative obstacles accessing coverage through the Exchanges. The House version offers premium assistance through COBRA. I urge your support for this option in the short term, for Medicaid expansion and more affordable Exchange coverage in the medium term, and in the longer term we must work for universal coverage for every American through a mix of expanded public and improved private coverage.
7. Mail in balloting option for every American. Every American voter should have the option to vote by mail or in a fully functioning polling center. I urge your support for the House version that provides funding for these important options.
Thank you for your consideration, respectfully.
Lucien Wulsin, JD
Founder, Insure the Uninsured Project
Los Angeles, California