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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Sam Quigley

sam@patrioticmillionaires.org

317-752-9150

Patriotic Millionaires On COVID Relief Bill: "The American People Deserve Better"

"Jumping through hoops to keep a relief package below $1 trillion is shortsighted and idiotic when our economy is on life support"

WASHINGTON

Last night, the US Senate voted to pass a $900 billion compromise COVID relief package shortly after it was approved by the House. This bill comes 9 months after Congress' last attempt at COVID relief, the CARES Act, and fails to make up for 9 months of government inaction, largely thanks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's insistence that the size of this bill be limited, despite the overwhelming amount of need in the United States.

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

"Some relief is better than no relief, but it's pathetic that this is the best Congress can do. The American people desperately need direct aid, yet this bill offers only watered-down unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, and no financial support for state and local governments. The American people deserve better than $600 and a $300 unemployment boost, and the government can easily afford to give it to them. It is absurd that half of Congress, led by Mitch McConnell, has decided we can't give more relief to people just because of some misguided notion about limiting government spending.

Jumping through hoops to keep a relief package below $1 trillion is shortsighted and idiotic when our economy is on life support, with millions of Americans are unemployed and unable to provide for their families. It is ludicrous that any lawmaker could look at the dual economic and public health disasters this country is facing and decide that their biggest priority should be shrinking the national debt."

For more information or for interview requests, email Sam Quigley at Sam@patrioticmillionaires.org.

The Patriotic Millionaires is a group of high-net worth Americans who share a profound concern about the destabilizing level of inequality in America. Our work centers on the two things that matter most in a capitalist democracy: power and money. Our goal is to ensure that the country's political economy is structured to meet the needs of regular Americans, rather than just millionaires. We focus on three "first" principles: a highly progressive tax system, a livable minimum wage, and equal political representation for all citizens.

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