Because of Covid 19, our economy has been turned upside down. Thousands of people have been laid off. Millions of people for the first time are applying for programs such as Snap food benefit and unemployment just to survive. In April of this year, the House and Senate passed a stimulus bill giving most Americans a $1200 check to help with expenses and while it is appreciated, it is laughable to think that is enough. 
Before the pandemic, people were living paycheck to paycheck, but after being laid off or having hours reduced, stores closing for a significant amount of time, debt has piled up for the American people. The US Government is not thinking about how this debt will affect the lives of so many. For those without a source of employment who haven’t been able to pay their bills, reopening our economy is not going to fix the debt that has been building. We are a family of seven with five kids and two adults. My family alone pays $1750 in rent. We have two car payments to make along with  the essentials of electric, water, Cell phone service, car insurance, groceries and hygiene items. For one month that $1200 is gone and it barely covers our car payments for the month and our car insurance. There have been some reliefs put in place, such as you can’t be evicted for not paying your rent at this time, but what happens when that is lifted and rent and bills come due for the last several months. Where is that money going to come from. Businesses that have been struggling are not going to come back and say “Here let me pay you for the time you were off”. Life doesn’t work like that. Debt for the American people is continuing to mount daily and even though we are moving forward as a country reopening our doors to many businesses and shops, we do so at a great risk for ourselves, and the money made only helps those businesses that have already received money under the 2.2 trillion dollars that Congress passed in April. But none of that money goes to everyday working families. 
Many people in Congress have never had to have a real job in their life. They have never had to eat a meal of red beans and cornbread or ramon noodles to make their grocery budget last through the month. When was the last time, anyone in Congress made under $100K a year while the rest of us are living off of incomes of less than $36k a year. Congress has no idea the real struggles we face day to day just to keep the lights on and our children fed and clothed. I see a lot of money going to big and small businesses, Universities, Hospitals, and airlines, but what about us. If Congress really wanted to stimulate the economy, they would start and end with the American people. The same people who elected them and put them in office. The country shut down, we were forced to stay home. It’s not our fault we now have huge piles of bills that need to be paid and $1200 is just a crumb. 
Stimulate the economy by putting Americans first before your own agendas. Make us a priority. We deserve to be able to live not just survive on the scraps you give us.

Reopening the economy early is a ploy from the government so that they don’t have to take responsibility and provide for the American people. But the income made now doesn’t replace the income lost, it doesn’t pay the bills due from weeks before. Reopening the United States despite warnings from medical officials is careless and reckless putting the very Americans you took an oath to protect in harms way. Social distancing has slowed the spread of Covid 19 but American people are still getting sick. There are new cases everyday, how is that progress? I am calling on all of my American neighbors to stand up and demand that Congress put us first. The same people who elected them, who placed them in that Ivory tower with a silver spoon in their mouths. The very least that they could do is to give us $2000 a month for the next year. 
In closing, I have always thought of myself as a republican, my family and I voted for Trump but after hearing what Senator Mitch Mc Connell has to say about not giving people more money during this uncertain time, I truly understand the Democrats. If Congress was so concerned about the national debt, they would learn how to live on a normal wage like the rest of us.  There are currently 535 representatives in Congress. 435 in the house and 100 in the senate. Their salary is $174,000 a year. That is $93,090,000 a year that we pay them, not including the other benefits they enjoy that the rest of us don’t have. If Mitch Mc Connell is so concerned about our national debt, then I call for him to pass into law that every member of Congress make a normal wage and we could pass those savings on to our national debt. Do you know how fast we would be able to pay it down if we weren’t paying overly priced salaries to government officials. The same officials who only care about their bottom line and not the American people who put them there. Imagine how different our lives would be if our representatives actually lived like the rest of us for once.  They wouldn’t live in mansions or have yachts and private planes. They would drive themselves around in Ford Fiestas and do their own grocery shopping and cooking, clean their own houses, work for the same wage that many of us do and have to see for themselves how far money doesn’t stretch at the end of the day. Mitch Mc Connell knows nothing of real life problems, how can he, he has never had the pleasure to experience any of them. I call upon our legislators to put us first for once. To provide for Americans and not themselves. Please sign this petition and let our government know we will no longer be satisfied with crumbs while they enjoy lobster. PUT AMERICANS FIRST!!!