People and businesses in Stanislaus, San Joaquin counties need stimulus deal now

Our ICUs are filling up. 750,000 Californians are about to lose their only source of income as federal unemployment benefits dry up. Small businesses are closing left and right. And all of this is happening right around Christmas.

I’m absolutely fed up. My colleagues in Congress need to put their political games aside and get a COVID relief deal done.

Our government is failing. Politicians on both sides are holding up critical funding for our hospitals, schools and small businesses all to make a political point. Lobbyists continue to run the show, trying to get their special interests included in a deal. All the while our Valley families struggle to put food on the table and make ends meet. It’s clear to me that too many members of Congress are disconnected from the needs of the people they’re supposed to work for.

This isn’t that complicated — we know exactly what we need to get done. We’ve done it before. In March, right as the pandemic was really taking off, Congress did its job. Millions of Americans received direct $1,200 payments, we helped small businesses stay afloat, and we expanded unemployment benefits.

Here in Modesto, the federal funding I helped secure was used to pay cop and firefighter salaries and to help people struggling with rent who might otherwise become homeless. But that was more than eight months ago. And Congress has completely failed since.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Nationwide, 12 million Americans will lose their extended unemployment benefits without Congressional action. That means 12 million families will be unable to afford rent or mortgage payments, pay credit card bills, or simply make sure their kids have enough to eat. Unless Congress gets its act together, these families are about to fall off a cliff. And to add insult to injury, it’s going to happen the day after Christmas.

We also need to help out struggling local businesses. Most of this year, many businesses had to operate at 25% capacity or shut down entirely. You can’t tell these business owners they have to shut their doors without providing meaningful help.

The program that helped save over 70,000 jobs right here in the Valley — the Paycheck Protection Program — needs to be extended. Without it, these business owners will have to make the terrible choice between laying off more staff or closing entirely. We can’t let that happen.

It’s clearly time to get a deal. That seems obvious to everyone in America, except politicians in Washington. No one will get everything they want — but that’s the nature of getting a deal.

I am proud to be part of a team of 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans who worked together to come up with a viable bipartisan deal. As far back as September we rolled out a bipartisan framework to provide more stimulus checks, shore up unemployment programs and get state and local governments additional funding to avoid cutting essential services. Now we need the rest of Congress, especially party leadership on both sides, to get on board and get it done.

I recently took to the House floor to try to give my colleagues a wake-up call, asking “what the hell is happening in Washington?” I may be new to Washington, but I know this isn’t how it’s supposed to work.

We have less than two weeks until unemployment benefits run out. Congress cannot leave for Christmas vacation without a stimulus deal. It’s that simple. Our leaders need to put their own selfish political interests to the side and actually fulfill our commitment to the American people.

This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 12:00 PM.