{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/sanders-gillibrand-warren-merkley-markey-and-wyden-urge-colleagues-to-defend-working-class-in-covid-19-relief-proposal", "Sanders, Gillibrand, Warren, Merkley, Markey and Wyden Urge Colleagues to Defend Working Class in COVID-19 Relief ProposalRead More", "2020-12-08", "2020", "2020-12", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Edward Markey", "M000133", "www.markey.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, December 8  Sens. Bernie Sanders\r\n(I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.),Jeff\r\nMerkley (D-Ore.),Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)urged\r\nSenate Democrats today to recognize the enormity of the economic and\r\npublic-health crisis posed by COVID-19 and join them in demanding that any new\r\nCOVID-19 relief proposal includes a $1,200 direct payment to adults and $500 to\r\ntheir children, while rejecting provisions to give a liability shield to\r\ncorporations who threaten the health and safety of workers and customers.\r\n\r\nIn a letter to their colleagues, the Senators note that COVID-19\r\nis infecting nearly 200,000 Americans and killing 2,000 Americans daily, and\r\nargue that a bipartisan proposal under negotiation does not go anywhere near\r\nfar enough, as America experiences the worst economic crisis since the Great\r\nDepression. Only $348 billion in new money is currently allocated in that\r\nproposal, the Senators point out, even though the Trump Administration and a\r\nbipartisan coalition in the House supported over $1.8 trillion in COVID-19\r\nrelief that also included another $1,200 direct payment.\r\n\r\nIt would be unacceptable to take a major\r\nstep backwards from those previous efforts by passing legislation that only\r\nincluded $348 billion in new money, the Senators wrote to their Democratic\r\ncolleagues.\r\n\r\nThe lawmakers further expressed their\r\nopposition to a get-out-of-jail free card to companies that put the lives of\r\ntheir workers and customers at risk currently under consideration in a\r\nbipartisan COVID-19 relief measure, and cited concerns from labor groups that\r\ngranting immunity would make the country less safe at the exact moment when\r\nthe COVID-19 pandemic is entering a new, dangerous phase.\r\n\r\nThe letter's signatories also registered their\r\nagreement with President-elect Biden that a $1,200 direct payment should be\r\nincluded in this proposal, as over half of American workers live paycheck to\r\npaycheck and one in four are either unemployed or make less than $20,000 a\r\nyear, while millions more face eviction and hunger.Read the letter here.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/sanders-gillibrand-warren-merkley-markey-and-wyden-urge-colleagues-to-defend-working-class-in-covid-19-relief-proposal"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4160631690174341, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}