Thread by @AFLCIO

The AFL-CIO supports the #AmericanRescuePlan, which the Senate will consider later this week. This emergency measure will provide $1.9T to help us beat the pandemic and provide critical economic support to millions of American families.

Millions remain out of work, families are in danger of losing their homes and communities across the country still lack the PPE, testing and vaccine distribution networks they need to stay safe.

Congress must pass this bill without delay.
The #AmericanRescuePlan includes $350B in unrestricted aid to states, counties, local governments, tribes and territories.

Since the start of the pandemic, over 1.4M public service workers have been laid off due to budget shortfalls, including firefighters, police officers, EMTs and other front line workers.

These layoffs are occurring at the same time that demands on public health, social services, and education have been surging. Emergency aid to state and local governments is necessary to stabilize the economy and get the spread of the virus under control.

The need for extended unemployment benefits and the $400 supplement cannot be overstated and the Senate must resist any effort to reduce this amount.

The average duration of unemployment and the share of unemployed workers who have been unemployed for 26 weeks or more continue to climb.

Since July, the number of long-term unemployed has exploded from 1.48M to 4.02M, and the average duration of unemployment has gone from 21.0 weeks in September to 26.0 weeks today.

At the current rate of job loss, we will still have a substantial share of unemployed workers who will be out of work for over 26 weeks well into December of this year, if not into February of next year.

At the current rate of job loss, we will still have a substantial share of unemployed workers who will be out of work for over 26 weeks well into December of this year, if not into February of next year.

Economic impact payments are another lifeline for hard hit workers, and all taxpaying families should be eligible for this relief regardless of their immigration status.

The #AmericanRescuePlan extends through 9/29 vital pandemic-related unemployment programs that would otherwise have expired on 3/14. These programs expanded eligibility for workers who are self-employed, independent contractors, or those who would otherwise not qualify.

The Plan also increases the amount of pandemic unemployment benefits, provides full federal funding to states for work-sharing programs, and provides interest free federal loans to bolster state unemployment trust funds.

Funding is also provided for the @USDOL to help states and territories verify identities, accelerate claim processing, and detect fraud.

The bill also includes necessary COBRA subsidies for employment-based health coverage, which will allow 2.2M working people to maintain access to their current in-network doctors and hospitals, as well as their connection to full-time jobs.

We support this coverage and hope that the Senate will increase the subsidy level from 85% to 100% of premium costs. A January 2021 analysis suggests that 7M people have lost job-based coverage during the pandemic and another 7M are continuing coverage post-layoff.

Additional millions remain vulnerable to loss of coverage with the rising unemployment rate. It is important that these subsidies be increased to help the numerous additional working families who cannot afford even 15 percent of premium costs when a breadwinner is unemployed.

We also support eliminating the cap on Medicaid drug price rebates to more fully insulate federal and state budgets from price increases that exceed the rate of inflation. Removing the cap results in $16B in federal savings that will help offset the costs of the COBRA policy.

The pension provisions in the bill are long overdue and critically important for the millions of retirees who have been living in fear that their modest retirement benefits, earned after a lifetime of hard work, will be gutted because their plans are heading towards insolvency.

This legislation will protect them from drastic benefit cuts, stabilize plans for active workers and protect the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation as the insurance backstop for multiemployer pensions.

Because of how multiemployer plans are funded, the pandemic has only deepened and hastened the need for federal assistance, putting even financially healthy plans at risk, jeopardizing the retirement security of over 2.5 million workers, retirees and beneficiaries.

Because of how multiemployer plans are funded, the pandemic has only deepened and hastened the need for federal assistance, putting even financially healthy plans at risk, jeopardizing the retirement security of over 2.5 million workers, retirees and beneficiaries.

We also strongly support @sensanders amendment to include the #RaisetheWage Act in the bill scheduled for consideration. The amendment calls for an increase in the minimum wage to $15 by 2025. Raising wages has never been more important or timely than during this pandemic.

The frontline workers whom we celebrate everyday as essential to keeping our economy moving are the most likely to benefit from this long overdue raise.

Lifting the minimum wage would benefit 32M workers, including millions of home health aids, grocery store workers and substitute teachers--the very workers we have been calling heroes since the start of the pandemic.

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