May, 19 2020, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
With Wide-Ranging Support, Jayapal Introduces Paycheck Recovery Act to Keep Workers in Their Jobs, Stop Mass Unemployment, and Deliver Direct Relief to Businesses of All Sizes
Estimated to benefit more than 36 million workers, the bill is widely supported by 93 members of Congress, economists, labor leaders and business owners.
SEATTLE
U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, introduced H.R. 6918, the Paycheck Recovery Act today as a policy solution that delivers working people immediate relief and certainty while matching the scale of the current public health and economic crisis. The Paycheck Recovery Act ends mass unemployment, keeps workers connected to their paychecks, returns millions of workers who have been laid off or furloughed since March 1 back to payroll and health care and prevents employers of all sizes from being forced to close permanently. H.R. 6918 is co-sponsored by 93 members of Congress from across the ideological spectrum, including many Frontline Members. Text of the legislation is available here. A white paper is also available here.
"Mass unemployment is a policy choice, and we must choose differently by passing an urgent proposal that matches the scale of this crisis while delivering certainty and direct relief to workers, businesses of all sizes and the economy," said Congresswoman Jayapal. "The Paycheck Recovery Act will end mass unemployment, put workers back on their paychecks and health care and keep businesses from closing permanently while ensuring workers aren't forced to return to work before it is safe to do so."
At a time when the unemployment rate is at its highest level since the Great Depression and more than 37 million workers have lost their jobs during Covid-19, the Paycheck Recovery Act would deliver certainty and stability by covering the full wages of workers earning salaries up to $90,000 and ensuring employers can rehire those laid-off or furloughed since March 1. It does this in a quick and direct manner by utilizing existing payroll tax infrastructure instead of relationships with banks and lending institutions.
The Paycheck Recovery Act is not just an economic recovery plan; it's a public health plan too. At a time when at least 27 million people have lost their health care and 87 million are uninsured or underinsured, this legislation returns individuals to their employer-sponsored benefits, including health care.
As more than 100,000 small businesses have already closed permanently and thousands of others are unable to pay their essential expenses, H.R. 6918 covers a portion of operating costs such as rent to ensure businesses can re-open when the pandemic ends. It does this without picking winners and losers, covering businesses of all sizes including non-profits and state and local governments.
The Paycheck Recovery Act is estimated to cover more than 36 million workers and cost less than what has already been spent on two rounds of Paycheck Protection Program loans, which have failed to successfully stabilize unemployment. Proven to be a highly effective program in other parts of the world--from European countries like Germany and Denmark to Asian countries like Singapore and South Korea--direct grants to businesses to keep workers on payroll is overwhelmingly supported by the public. A recent Data for Progress and Tufts University poll found 79% of those surveyed supported the proposal.
While H.R. 6918 is co-sponsored by nearly 100 members of Congress, the idea for a paycheck guarantee also has bipartisan, bicameral support. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have unveiled a similar proposal--the Paycheck Security Act--to cover the wages and benefits of employees at businesses and nonprofits affected by Covid-19. Additionally, the proposal has been endorsed by Nobel-Prize winning economists, former Federal Reserve Chairs and vice presidents, labor leaders, business owners and major national groups across the country.
"We must act to ensure that millions more workers are paid for as long as this crisis endures by making support for employers who keep workers on payroll simpler, faster and more universal," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. "The Paycheck Recovery Act does just that."
"A bold and workable solution that addresses the true severity, scope and potential duration of the financial crisis that small business owners and their employees are facing," said Main Street Alliance Executive Director Amanda Ballantyne. "It is exactly the type of policy that will secure our small business economy and keep millions of workers in their jobs and homes until the threat of the virus has passed."
"This type of bill is vital to ensuring that the economy is ready to restart when the pandemic ends by protecting the health, safety and long-term economic well-being of working people across America," said SEIU President Mary Kay Henry.
"The Paycheck Recovery Act is critically needed to avoid job losses and support businesses of all sizes as Covid-19 continues to ravage the economy," said Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics Mark Zandi.
"Congresswoman Jayapal's proposal would definitely be a shot in the arm not just for myself but for so many of the millions of small business owners around the country," said Melba Wilson, the owner of a third-generation family-owned restaurant in Harlem, N.Y.
"Helping businesses to keep paying their workers is the most effective way to stop millions of Americans from being laid off and protect access to health care at a time when it is especially needed," said Nobel Prize Winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz.
"Representative Jayapal's Paycheck Recovery Act is a smart, quick and effective way to channel aid to workers through their firms," said Former Chair of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen. "It can keep businesses, large and small, from shuttering and their workers on the payroll."
"Congresswoman Jayapal's Paycheck Recovery Act is another step forward in this fight because it would provide much-needed relief by helping employers keep workers paid and out of the unemployment line and by keeping workers enrolled in employer-sponsored benefits, including health care -- something that's paramount during a global pandemic," said NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia.
"The Paycheck Recovery Act is the type of bold legislation that deserves support because it could have a major impact on reducing the number of jobs lost permanently--including small business and union jobs--while including provisions to ensure that aid is not misused to unjustly enrich companies," said Former Director of the National Economic Council and National Economic Advisor Gene Sperling.
"This urgently needed legislation will help ensure that America's workforce and businesses remain intact, said IAM President Robert Martinez, Jr. "It would end the current wave of mass layoffs, bring previously displaced workers back onto their employers' payroll, prevent employers from being forced to permanently close their doors, and keep workers connected to their employer-sponsored health care."
"It's clear that Congress needs to do more to stop the economic devastation we are facing as we combat this pandemic," said Former Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor Heidi Shierholz. "Rep. Jayapal's bold proposal will keep workers paid, eligible for benefits, and connected to their employers."
"This is the best economic policy, but it's also going to save lives and help our medical professionals because the vast majority of Americans will have the means to stay healthy and be helpful," said Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO President Sara Nelson.
"Millions of Americans have lost their jobs," said Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor Robert Reich. "They need help immediately. The Paycheck Recovery Act is the fastest and most efficient way of getting it to them."
"During the last recession, unemployment and under-employment hit Black and brown communities the hardest, and the scale of our current unemployment crisis will deepen our racial wealth gap," said Center For Popular Democracy Co-Executive Director Jennifer Epps-Addison. "Keeping working people on payroll at their employers is the best way to allow working people to minimize the economic dislocation that is compounding our public health crisis."
"The payroll guarantee idea is a big policy intervention that solves several problems at once--a vast improvement over the PPP," said Former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan S. Blinder.
"The government is shutting down businesses. It should cover workers' paychecks and benefits. It's that simple," said Progressive Caucus Action Fund Executive Director Liz Watson. "Rep. Jayapal's Paycheck Recovery Act would do exactly that."
Today's legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Representatives Haley Stevens, Adam Schiff, Sean Casten, Katie Porter, Mark Pocan, Veronica Escobar, Alma S. Adams, Ph.D., Nanette Diaz Barragan, Karen Bass, Joyce Beatty, Donald S. Beyer Jr., Earl Blumenauer, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Suzanne Bonamici, Brendan Boyle, Julia Brownley, G.K. Butterfield, Joaquin Castro, Andre Carson, Judy Chu, David N. Cicilline, Katherine Clark, Yvette D. Clarke, Emanuel Cleaver, II, James E. Clyburn, Steve Cohen, Gerald E. Connolly, Peter DeFazio, Rosa DeLauro, Debbie Dingell, Adriano Espaillat, Dwight Evans, Marcia L. Fudge, Ruben Gallego, Jesus G. "Chuy" Garcia, Sylvia R. Garcia, Vicente Gonzalez, Raul M. Grijalva, Deb Haaland, Alcee L. Hastings, Jahana Hayes, Denny Heck, Steven Horsford, Sheila Jackson Lee, Hakeem Jeffries, Henry C. "Hank" Johnson Jr., Joseph P. Kennedy, III, Ro Khanna, Ann Kirkpatrick, John B. Larson, Barbara Lee, Susie Lee, Andy Levin, Mike Levin, Ted W. Lieu, Alan Lowenthal, Tom Malinowski, Carolyn B. Maloney, James P. McGovern, Grace Meng, Joseph D. Morelle, Jerrold Nadler, Grace F. Napolitano, Joe Neguse, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Frank Pallone, Jr., Chellie Pingree, Ayanna Pressley, Jamie Raskin, Cedric L. Richmond, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Bobby L. Rush, Tim, Ryan, John Sarbanes, Mary Gay Scanlon, Jan Schakowsky, Kim Schrier M.D., Jose E. Serrano, Donna Shalala, Mikie Sherrill, Adam Smith, Darren Soto, Jackie Speier, Thomas R. Suozzi, Rashida Tlaib, Lori Trahan, Juan Vargas, Filemon Vela, Nydia M. Velazquez, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Peter Welch.
Groups supporting the Paycheck Recovery Act include Americans for Financial Reform; the American Federation of Teachers; AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; Asian Counseling and Referral Service; Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of Washington; Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO; CAIR Washington; Center for American Progress; Center for Economic Policy Research; Center for Popular Democracy/CDP Action; Climate Justice Alliance; Color of Change; Communications Workers of America; Community Change Action; the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition; Economic Policy Institute; GSBA: Washington's LGBTQ Chamber; Indivisible; International Association of Machinists; International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; International Community Health Services; Main Street Alliance; MoveOn; National Domestic Workers Alliance; National Education Association; Pacific Northwest Ballet; People's Action; Seattle Aquarium; Seattle Children's Theatre; SEIU; Sierra Club; UAW Western States; UNITE HERE; Woodland Park Zoo; 350 Seattle; and other organizations.
LATEST NEWS
'Evil and Cruel': GOP Lawmaker Shamed for Unloading Medicaid-Related Stock Before Voting to Gut Program
"Their bill will gut Medicaid and kill people, and they know it," said Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.).
Jul 03, 2025
Republican Congressman Robert Bresnahan of Pennsylvania got publicly shamed by many of his congressional colleagues on Thursday after it was revealed he unloaded a Medicaid-related stock before voting for a massive budget package that enacted historically devastating cuts to the program.
Quiver Quantitative, an investment data platform that tracks stock trades made by politicians and other prominent public figures, revealed on its X account that Bresnahan recently sold shares he'd owned in Centene Corporation, a for-profit firm that specializes in delivering healthcare exchanges for Medicaid. In the weeks since he sold his shares in the company, their value plunged by more than 40 percent.
Quiver Quantitative added that while Bresnahan claims not to manage his own stock portfolio, he does not appear to have set up a qualified blind trust that would eliminate potential conflicts of interest between his investments and his work as a member of Congress.
Regardless, many of Bresnahan's Democratic colleagues reacted with fury and disgust to revelations that the Centene shares were dropped before he voted for a bill that will slash more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) over the span of a decade.
"This Congressman literally dumped stock in a Medicaid provider company right before this bill came to the floor," wrote Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) on X. "Don't be fooled—these guys know exactly what they're doing."
"Wow," marveled Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.). "So he votes to gut Medicaid and throw 17 million people off of their healthcare and then dumps his Medicaid related stock to cover his own ass? That's just evil and cruel."
"If the Big Ugly Nasty Bill doesn't hurt Medicaid, why are Republicans selling their Medicaid-associated stocks?" asked Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). "Their words say one thing, their actions another. Their bill will gut Medicaid and kill people, and they know it."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ripped Bresnahan for "protecting his stock portfolio while ripping away health care from 17 million Americans" with his vote to gut Medicaid.
"This is Washington at its worst," she added. "We need to ban Congressional stock trading."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Climate Change Fueling 'Most Widespread and Damaging' Droughts in History: UN Report
"This is not a dry spell," said the co-author of a new U.N. report. "This is a slow-moving global catastrophe."
Jul 03, 2025
Climate change is driving "some of the most widespread and damaging drought events in recorded history," according to a report published Wednesday on global drought hotspots.
Over the past two years, droughts have fueled increased food insecurity, dehydration, and disease that have heightened poverty and political instability in several regions of the world, according to research by the U.S. National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
"This is not a dry spell," says Dr. Mark Svoboda, report co-author and NDMC Director. "This is a slow-moving global catastrophe, the worst I've ever seen. This report underscores the need for systematic monitoring of how drought affects lives, livelihoods, and the health of the ecosystems that we all depend on."
The report examined conditions in some of the globe's most drought-prone regions. They found that the economic disruption caused by droughts today is twice as high as in 2000.
In Eastern and Southern Africa, which have been blighted with dangerously low levels of rainfall, more than 90 million people face acute hunger.
Somalia has been hit particularly hard, with 4.4 million, more than a quarter of the population, facing "crisis level" food insecurity in early 2025. Zambia, meanwhile, faced one of the world's worst energy crises last year when the Zambezi River dried up, causing its hydroelectric dams to run critically low.
Other drought-plagued regions have seen wide ranges of ecological and economic disruptions.
In Spain, low levels of rainfall in 2023 devastated olive crops, causing olive oil prices to double. In the Amazon Basin, low water levels caused a mass death of fish and endangered dolphins. The Panama Canal became so depleted that trade vessels were forced to re-route, causing multi-week shipping delays. And in Morocco, Eid celebrations had to be cancelled due to a shortage of sheep.
Recent studies of drought have found that they are increasingly caused not by lack of rainfall, but by aggressive heat, which speeds up evaporation. The areas hit the hardest over the past two years were ones already suffering from the most severe temperature increases. It was also exacerbated by a particularly severe El Niño weather cycle in 2023-24.
"This was a perfect storm," says report co-author Dr. Kelly Helm Smith, NDMC Assistant Director and drought impacts researcher. "El Niño added fuel to the fire of climate change, compounding the effects for many vulnerable societies and ecosystems past their limits."
Though the effects of droughts are often felt most acutely in areas already suffering from poverty and instability, the researchers predict that as they get worse, the effects will be felt worldwide.
In 2024, then the hottest year on record, 48 of the 50 U.S. states faced drought conditions, the highest proportion ever seen. Drought in the U.S. has coincided with a dramatic increase in wildfire frequency and severity over the past 50 years.
"Ripple effects can turn regional droughts into global economic shocks," Smith said. "No country is immune when critical water-dependent systems start to collapse."
The researchers advocated for investments in global drought prevention, but also for broader measures to address the existing inequalities that make droughts more severe.
"Drought has a disproportionate effect on those with few resources," Smith said. "We can act now to reduce the effects of future droughts by working to ensure that everyone has access to food, water, education, health care and economic opportunity."
The researchers also emphasized the urgency of coordinated action to confront the climate crisis.
"The struggles...to secure water, food, and energy under persistent drought offer a preview of water futures under unchecked global warming," said Svoboda. "No country, regardless of wealth or capacity, can afford to be complacent."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump-GOP Budget Bill Will Give Top 1% Over $1 Trillion in Tax Breaks: Analysis
The amount set to flow to a "tiny sliver of affluent families" over the next decade is roughly equal to the Medicaid cuts included in the Republican bill, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Jul 03, 2025
An analysis released Thursday estimates that the Republican legislation on the brink of final passage in Congress would deliver over $1 trillion in combined tax breaks to the richest 1% of Americans over the next decade—an amount roughly equal to the bill's unprecedented cuts to Medicaid.
The new analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), which utilizes data from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and other sources, finds that the "tiny sliver of affluent families" in the top 1% of the U.S. income distribution will "receive tax cuts totaling $1.02 trillion over the next decade."
The centerpiece of Trump's megabill is a trillion-dollar tax cut to the wealthy, paid for by increasing the national debt and cutting public services. pic.twitter.com/ISr2XuIdJQ
— ITEP (@iteptweets) July 3, 2025
ITEP has previously shown that the Republican bill's tax cuts—largely extensions of expiring provisions of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law—would be highly skewed to the wealthy, with the small percentage of households at the very top receiving significantly more in total tax breaks than middle- and lower-income Americans.
"Sixty-nine percent of the net tax cuts would go to the richest fifth of Americans in 2026, only 11% would go to the middle fifth of Americans, and less than 1% would go to the poorest fifth," the group found. "The $107 billion in net tax cuts going to the richest 1% next year would exceed the amount going to the entire bottom 60% of taxpayers."
ITEP's new analysis was released as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrapped up a record-breaking, eight-hour-plus speech against the GOP legislation, which delayed a final vote on the measure. Republicans are expected to pass the unpopular bill on Thursday.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular