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U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) called on the Senate to act immediately on emergency coronavirus funding, which has already been passed by the House of Representatives. Click the image below to watch Senator Manchin speak on the Senate Floor on the need to pass emergency coronavirus funding now.
“I have no doubt Democrats and Republicans will come together and take care and help people and will come to the aid of the economy of our country and I hope they realize the people that really need help are the people that cannot make it from one week to the next let alone one paycheck to the next. My state also has the most endangered population in the nation. West Virginia has 735,000 people over the age of 18 who have a higher risk of serious illness due to a pre-existing condition or other medical condition. That is over half of our entire adult population,” said Senator Manchin. “But out of 1.8 million people, we have only tested 84. When the virus is found in my state, we are not prepared for it because we don't even have the tests to identify who is ill, who needs these treatments and needs the hospital care, and we don’t have medical equipment we need to support our vulnerable citizens. We need to pass the Families First Coronavirus Response Act now. This emergency funding that has already been passed in the House is vital to supporting our most vulnerable people. We have to do something and do it quickly. We should sit here and protest until it does come. There is no reason we can't do it tonight. We must come together, all of us, to fight this deadly virus.”
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