March, 24 2020, 12:00am EDT
Huge Progressive Coalition and Key Congressional Leaders Demand a People's Bailout in Response to Coronavirus Crisis
Congressional “Dear Colleague” letter calls for down payment on green economy.
WASHINGTON
Sens. Ed Markey and Senator Tammy Duckworth, along with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan, Debbie Dingell, Pramila Jayapal, and Barbara Lee, have joined more than 450 progressive organizations across the country to launch a new People's Bailout campaign to focus congressional coronavirus responses on the needs of the multiracial working class and the urgent threat of climate change.
As a public health crisis and a possible 30-percent unemployment rate loom in the months ahead, the legislators and advocates laid out their principles in a letter sent today by the lawmakers to their colleagues in the House and Senate. The document outlines needed aspects of coronavirus response legislation, including providing economic relief directly to people, forbidding bailouts for corporate executives, and encouraging investment in a green economy.
"House and Senate Republicans are dead-set on using this crisis to jam through massive giveaways to corporations instead of saving the people and communities hurt most by Trump's failure to act," People's Action's Climate Justice Campaign Director Kaniela Ing said. "Our people were already struggling, and we refuse to die just to save Wall Street. Lawmakers must respond to this pandemic in a way that yanks us back from the abyss and actually prevents future catastrophes."
"As we work to advance further spending packages to ensure immediate relief and long-term recovery, we need to consider the interrelated crises of income and wealth inequality, racism, and ecological decline, which were in place long before COVID-19, and now risk being intensified," read the Dear Colleague letter sent by Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Pocan, Dingell, Jayapal, and Lee.
"This is the worst public health crisis since the 1918 flu pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and if we don't act in a forward-thinking way, other crises are just over the horizon. COIVD-19 is only a microcosm of what climate calamity will look like. And this week demonstrated how unprepared we are." Ing added. "These principles provide a framework for action equal to the moment."
For more information on the People's Bailout push, including a full list of participating organizations, visit https://www.thepeoplesbailout.com
People's Action builds the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through issue campaigns and elections.
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We must stop tinkering around the edges of a broken healthcare system.
Yes, let's extend the ACA tax credits to prevent a huge spike in healthcare costs for millions. Then, let's finally create a system that puts your health over corporate profits.
We need Medicare for All. pic.twitter.com/lszdO1vw2u
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) December 1, 2025
Van Hollen's remarks came as lawmakers continued to negotiate a possible deal to extend enhanced ACA subsidies that are set to lapse at the end of the year, an outcome that would further drive up healthcare costs for millions.
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Neither side of the negotiations is offering much more than a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. Democratic leaders want a clean extension of the subsidies to avert catastrophic cost increases, while President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers are demanding new restrictions on the ACA that would make the system worse.
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AFTYN: “Clearly I’m living rent-free in President Trump’s mind.”
JUST NOW IN FRANKLIN — Rep. @aftynfortn Behn gave a pep talk to a group of fired up canvassers on the eve of an unexpectedly tight #TN7 special election.
(And a group hug) pic.twitter.com/1e0sNmNHEd
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) December 1, 2025
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🔥 WATCH — @AOC: “Tennessee is ready to elect @aftynfortn Behn. Miracles can happen… to run in an R+22 seat takes a very special kind of person with a very special kind of guts. That the race is so tight is a testament to how the 🇺🇸 people are feeling in this moment.” #TN7 pic.twitter.com/2QKr6EQUMI
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