Just finished questioning Fed Chairman Jay Powell in the Banking Committee and I want to share the absolutely devastating stat I asked him about:
According to the Fed, 40% of workers making under $40K have lost their jobs in the last 2 months
His response is a call to action:
According to the Fed, 40% of workers making under $40K have lost their jobs in the last 2 months
His response is a call to action:
If we are going to prevent a long, dragged out recovery, or even another economic depression, we need bold action now to help workers who are struggling.
I am eagerly looking forward to the Fed implementing the Main Street Lending Facility that I worked on, which will help mid-sized businesses, like a local manufacturer with 500 or maybe 1000 workers, get the cash they need to stay afloat during this crisis.
If done right, this can help give businesses the liquidity they need to prevent further layoffs and eventually put a lot of people back to work when it is safe to do so.
But we also need to act now to help those people who have lost their jobs. Unemployment insurance is an important safety net to help people in the short term, if they can get it. But what these workers really need is their paychecks.
We need to create a Paycheck Security Program that puts paychecks in the hands of the millions of Americans who’ve gone from a steady job to unemployment through no fault of their own.
Yes, that means the federal government should pay employers to put these workers back on the payroll, so they can go back to their jobs just as soon as it is safe to do so.
Things are bad now, but the experts are telling us they can get a lot worse if we don’t act. This is not the time for “wait and see.” It’s time to help our fellow Americans in need so we can begin getting our economy back on track.
