The US has recently passed a bold economic relief package in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The ambitious $2 trillion plan will have its benefits, but overall will not provide adequate protection for low-income workers. Even though $2 trillion may seem like a lot, it really only delivers temporary coverage, which will not be proportional to the severity of economic damage that this pandemic will inflict, especially for low-income bracket citizens and workers. According to Lena Simet, a poverty and equality researcher at the Human Rights Watch, "Congress should enact other measures to reduce people’s bills, and extend these benefits to informal workers, or many will struggle to keep their families housed and fed" (Human Rights Watch Article).

The current act under effect delivers immediate aid to families and extends the number of employment benefits in a given workforce. However, as all evidence points out, providing temporary economic relief for a non-temporary issue is notwithstanding. It is estimated that four months from now, the mean weekly unemployment benefit will be a mere $372. This will leave millions of low-income workers (the article references salespeople) eligible for much less, the minimum being a $234 weekly benefit. It may or may not come as a surprise that in certain states, this bracket falls below the federal poverty line.

To make matters worse, this relief package only protects workers with a social security number, excluding the eight million unofficial workers, despite the fact that in 2015, people with individual tax identification numbers paid a whopping 13.7 billion in U.S net tax dollars (American Immigration Council). 

During the week ending Sunday, March 22nd, 3.3 million people filed for unemployment. This number may seem shocking without a layer of comparative statistics, but this is five times the record unemployment rate in the US. Not only this, but it is estimated that between 7 and 15 million people will file for unemployment during this time, a maximum of fifteen accounting for 25 times the national unemployment record. 

I'm going to leave it at this; we must do better to protect everyone. We are not doing any favors to the economy by underinsuring or un-insuring people that need it most. I highly recommend reading this article. It provides important insights and statistics for the issue at hand. 

I will be updating the petition and stepping up my game in terms of outreach because the message that this petition delivers is incredibly important. I know I've said this many times, but it becomes more true with every passing day; it is critical that we step up now more than ever. The collateral damage that will be done to the economy will be utterly devastating for millions of people if we don't create a new stimulus bill that includes everyone.