Patriotic Millionaires on Trump Halting Relief Negotiations: Americans Can't Wait Another Day

Yesterday, President Trump broke off negotiations on a fourth round of stimulus spending and publicly said that he no longer intends to work towards another Coronavirus stimulus package until after the election. Despite President Trump's constant insistence that the economy is doing well, many Americans are deeply struggling and the level of need is extraordinarily high.

In response to the news, Morris Pearl, the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director of BlackRock, Inc., issued the following statement:

"It's shameful enough that our government hasn't managed to pass any relief for our citizens since the end of April, but to completely deny the possibility of any further stimulus until after a divisive election ensures that millions of vulnerable Americans will be ravaged by the coming economic devastation.

Since the lapse of expanded unemployment insurance, over 30 million unemployed Americans are essentially living in poverty, struggling to get by on inadequate state-level aid. That's to say nothing of the millions more Americans who've had their shifts cut or furloughed and desperately need another stimulus check to pay for basic living necessities like food, rent, and utility bills.

Without a stimulus package now, tens of thousands of jobs will be lost. Small businesses won't have any money without another round of business loans to keep their employees on payroll. Schools will have no money to reopen safely.

An America where millions face eviction and unemployment while struggling to even keep food on the table is not the America where I grew up and is not the America where I want my children to grow up. President Trump's decision to insist that aid for businesses be conditioned on no help for public servants who are on the front lines of dealing with the crisis is wrong morally, wrong politically, and wrong economically.

The death toll continues to mount, businesses can barely keep their doors open, and countless Americans are teetering on the edge of economic collapse, but our President thinks that we can wait until after the next election. This move is nothing more than a disgusting, senseless disregard for human life from this administration."