Passing an Emergency Plan that Meets the Moment
Our most urgent priority must be to provide more relief to Americans struggling against the weight of the health and economic impacts of COVID-19. Since last March, I’ve worked to secure five major bipartisan relief bills in Congress, including the CARES Act and the $900 billion measure that was signed into law in December. These packages have helped Marylanders weather the storm of COVID-19 by bolstering our public health infrastructure and extending a lifeline to working families and small businesses harmed by the economic fallout.
And while I was glad that we’ve been able to take these steps to mitigate some impacts of the pandemic, now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back, say we’re done, and throw in the towel. These are unprecedented times, and we need to go big before it’s too late. We must ramp up vaccine production and distribution, expand testing and access to N95 masks, get help to those hardest hit, get our children safely back in school, and put our economy on the road to recovery. I was proud to speak on the Senate floor in favor of the budget resolution that will allow us to pass President Biden’s American Rescue Plan in the Senate with a simple majority and am now working urgently with colleagues to get this ambitious package across the finish line.
The experts and the American people agree with me on this one. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen has said: “The smartest thing we can do is act big.” Even President Trump’s former top economist, Kevin Hassett, has supported that assessment. And the American people are on board with President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which would accelerate the deployment of vaccines and testing; help get our students back into school as quickly and safely as possible; extend enhanced unemployment benefits beyond mid-March; double the amount of rental assistance available to those at risk of eviction; extend badly needed support to local governments on the front lines; provide another round of individual payments based on income eligibility; and, very importantly, expand the child tax credit in a way that would cut child poverty by more than 40% this year. All of these measures are necessary to beat the virus and prevent a double-dip economic recession.
As we fight for relief on the federal front, I remain deeply troubled by the lack of statewide coordination and communication in Maryland's vaccine rollout. At the time of this writing, Maryland is ranked 49th among all 50 states for percent of total vaccines administered and 41st among all 50 states for vaccines administered per 100,000 people, according to CDC data. And while I'm glad more vaccines are coming in, our state needs a more transparent and efficient process to get vaccines to Marylanders in a more equitable way. I was glad to be joined by my colleagues in the Maryland congressional delegation earlier this month in a letter to Governor Hogan, which called for a course correction in Maryland's vaccine distribution approach. These calls have since been echoed by Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and our county leaders. I will continue to push for accountability and action at the state level so we can get more shots into the arms of Marylanders as soon as possible. I'll also keep pushing for the federal relief measures necessary to bolster vaccine distribution in our communities, secure our supply chain, and strengthen vaccine confidence and communication. |