United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York, and I hope to fill her shoes in what she has done to promote the welfare of the lives of the people of this country. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this bill.

We are at a critical moment. We are not just living through a public health crisis, but an economic one; two crises, which have magnified existing inequalities.

Tens of millions of workers are unemployed. Millions of families are facing hunger, many for the first time in their lives. Small businesses are going under, and over 300,000 Americans have lost their lives.

The COVID relief package that we are voting on today is a start, and I thank my colleagues in the House of Representatives for elevating it to provide important relief.

It brings back the enhanced Federal unemployment insurance, direct payments, a second round of PPP loans, $13 billion in emergency food assistance, and a temporary boost to the monthly food stamp program. And, critically, it includes my Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes Act.

Despite strong Republican opposition, it provides nearly $2 billion to maintain the paid leave option. I will fight for paid sick days and paid family and medical leave in the new year so that no worker is left behind.

In the Labor-HHS provisions, we were able to secure $155 billion in life-or-death funding: $73 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services and $82 billion for the Department of Education.

However, it is only a start, and we must do so much more. We need aid to cities and States. We need a child tax credit and much more money for childcare.

Let us act and get the people the help they need.

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