Amber Smock
Vice President of Advocacy
Dear Access Living friends and allies,
Very late last night, U.S. Senate leaders announced that they had reached a deal on the third COVID-19 stimulus package, the CARES Act. Because this was brokered behind closed doors at a very high level, public information about the deal is only slowly trickling out this morning. Access Living is working closely with allies to understand what this deal is. The U.S. Senate will go into session at noon Eastern time to begin voting to pass this package.
It’s unlikely this will be the LAST stimulus package. Hill staff have been clear that it’s extremely likely there will have to be multiple stimulus packages to bolster COVID-19 response and our national economy. If the Senate passes the package they agreed on last night, it will then begin moving through the U.S. House, and it’s hard to know what that process will look like. The House Democrats proposed a bill yesterday that looked VERY different than what the Senate Republicans proposed, so it is hard to say just yet what the House will do, given that there is little information about last night’s Senate deal.
We know the people’s voices matter. We know that your efforts to raise disability concerns ARE being heard on the Hill. This was reflected in the House bill from yesterday which contained many of the things we asked for, and we also know that Senate staff said they have been hearing from all parts of the disability community, thousands and thousands of emails and calls. Your advocacy is getting through. Please keep your relentless work going!
Bear in mind that the advocacy process at the federal level is a marathon, not a sprint. Access Living will do our best to keep you updated as we get more detail. Things keep happening very rapidly.
Once again, THANK YOU for all your efforts so far. We hope you are staying as safe as possible, and we will update when there is more info.