We need a swift, inclusive bailout, by and for the people.
While Congress has passed initial relief packages, many across the country are still in need of urgent relief. Workers and communities on the front lines of the crisis urgently need health and economic protections. Nurses are working without masks. Millions are going without paychecks. Immigrants are excluded from relief. Families are facing water shutoffs. Black and Latinx communities are dying at an alarming and disproportionate rate.
Congress must act now to protect workers and communities, not corporate executives. Our response to this crisis must fight inequality, not double down on the unjust status quo.
Let’s pull together, as we've done in times past, to demand our government provide money and care to those who are hardest hit, not to the wealthy few.
A people’s bailout is rooted in justice. We demand the bailout provide a just recovery by prioritizing and funding those who have been hit first and worst by COVID-19 and the current recession. We will not let Congress leave anyone behind - not our working families, health workers, Black and Latinx communities, undocumented immigrants, Indigenous peoples, or people who are homeless or housing insecure.
Sierra Club has joined together with over 800 organizations -- unions, environmental justice groups, and Indigenous, youth, economic justice, faith, gender equity, immigrants’ rights, and other organizations -- in signing on to Five Principles of a People's Bailout that protects workers and communities, counteracts inequity, and charts a path to a healthy, clean energy economy.
Five Principles for Just COVID-19 Relief and Stimulus
The COVID-19 pandemic demands swift and unprecedented action from the federal government. The depth of the crisis and the scope of the response mean that choices being made right now will shape our society for years, if not decades to come. As policymakers take steps to ensure immediate relief and long-term recovery, it is imperative that they consider the interrelated crises of wealth inequality, racism, and ecological decline, which were in place long before COVID-19, and now risk being intensified. This is a time to be decisive in saving lives, and bold in charting a path to a genuinely healthier and more equitable future through a just recovery. Read a summary of the 5 principles below, and then head over to the People’s Bailout website for more information and learn how to take action!
- Health is the top priority, for all people, with no exceptions.
We support the calls of community leaders, public health organizations, unions, and others for free and accessible testing, treatment, and protective equipment; expanded hospital capacity, including in rural areas, territories, and tribal lands; paid sick leave and paid family medical leave for all workers without exception; expanded federal funding for Medicaid; and full funding for Indian Health Service and urban Indian health centers. Critically, the government must ensure such health protections cover all people, including low-wage workers, health workers, independent contractors, family farmers, Black and Latinx communities, undocumented immigrants, Indigenous peoples, people who are incarcerated, people who are homeless or housing insecure, and others likely to be hit first and worst by COVID-19 and the economic downturn. - Provide economic relief directly to the people.
We support the urgent calls to expand the social safety net by broadening unemployment insurance, vastly increasing food aid programs, extending housing assistance, expanding childcare for working families, relieving student debt, and halting evictions, foreclosures, and shut offs of water and electricity. As with expanded public health measures, these economic measures must be implemented to ensure coverage of workers and communities likely to be hit first and worst by COVID-19 and the economic downturn. - Rescue workers and communities, not corporate executives.
Any financial assistance directed at specific industries must be channeled to workers, not shareholders or corporate executives. Specifically, any federal loans must be used to maintain payroll and benefits, not executive bonuses or stock buybacks. - Make a down payment on a regenerative economy, while preventing future crises.
While we urgently need a large, short-term stimulus to protect the health and economic security of those on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, it is imperative that policymakers also plan for a large, medium-term stimulus to counteract the economic downturn and ensure a just recovery. This stimulus should create millions of good, family-sustaining jobs with high-road labor standards; counter systemic inequities by directing investments to the working families, communities of color, and Indigenous communities who face the most economic insecurity; and tackle the climate crisis that is compounding threats to our economy and health.
All three goals can be achieved simultaneously with public investments to rebuild our infrastructure, replace lead pipes, expand wind and solar power, build clean and affordable public transit, weatherize our buildings, build and repair public housing, manufacture more clean energy goods, restore our wetlands and forests, expand public services that support climate resilience, and support regenerative agriculture led by family farmers. - Protect our democratic process while protecting each other.
People must not be forced to choose between exercising their rights as citizens and protecting public health. The federal government must support states, by providing funding and technical support wherever needed, to ensure that every American can vote safely in primary and general elections. Specific life-saving and democracy-defending measures include expanding vote by mail, online or automatic voter registration, among others.