Last night, the Senate passed an historic $2 trillion relief package providing government relief to workers and communities directly impacted by COVID-19. The stimulus includes key funding to health care workers, states and cities, and other communities most impacted by the pandemic, funding to keep households from losing energy, and transparency about how the funds are being spent.

The following is a statement from Marty Hayden, Earthjustice’s Vice President of Policy and Legislation:

“We applaud the leadership of Senate Minority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi for ensuring that this critically-needed package sends relief to the places and people that need it most right now: health care workers on the front lines, and states, localities, tribes and territories managing the response on the ground. We must band together as a nation to keep families and our frontline workers safe and supported, and not use these stimulus packages to provide corporate bailouts to industries without transparency and accountability. The leaders held firm and eliminated a $3 billion hand out to big oil via the Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserve and provided much needed funds to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to ensure our most vulnerable neighbors maintain access to household energy bill assistance in the midst of this crisis. They prevented the Trump administration from obtaining its wished-for secret bailouts to corporations. The transparency and oversight of these funds provided in this bill are critical to ensuring the money is going to those who need it most, and not to pad the pockets of CEOs.

“We look forward to working with Congress on economic recovery legislation in the coming weeks. Future bills provide an opportunity to stimulate the creation of jobs and chart a cleaner and more just and equitable future for communities nationwide, particularly for those who have historically been overburdened by dangerous pollution.”

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