Poder Latinx Statement on Trump Ending His Political Games and Signing Covid-19 Relief Bill

For Immediate Release - December 28, 2020
Contact: Gebe Martinez | gebe.gmnetworking@gmail.com | 703-731-9505

Poder Latinx Statement on Trump Ending His Political Games and Signing Covid-19 Relief Bill

WASHINGTON, DC — After days of playing with the lives of distressed Americans in urgent need of aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump signed a relief bill that will deliver $600 in direct payments to individuals, and, for the first time, provide assistance to more than 3.5 million additional U.S citizens in mixed-status families and their children and $1.8 billion to allow workers to take paid sick time and paid emergency leave.

Trump delayed signing the bill passed by Congress because of an 11th-hour demand that the individual payments be $2,000 instead of $600. But he ran into a wall of opposition from members of his own party, Republicans, whose allegiance to Trump faded in the waning days of his administration.

“Let’s not be fooled by what Trump was trying to do because it was not about taking care of Americans who have been dying from COVID-19 or are unemployed as a result of Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic,” said Esteban Garces, co-executive director of Poder Latinx. “Trump was avenging the dissing he received from Senate Majority.

Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, and members of his party who did not defend Trump’s election challenges of President-elect Joe Biden’s win,” Garces added. "Trump’s lack of leadership on the pandemic, and his refusal to acknowledge the soaring deaths in communities of color, including our Latinx community, showed his lack of regard for the lives and deaths of Americans,” said Yadira Sanchez, co-executive director of Poder Latinx.

The COVID relief legislation has become a key issue in the upcoming Georgia runoff elections on Jan. 5, where both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats will be decided. “As we have worked to get out the Latinx vote in Georgia, we have seen the COVID relief legislation become a major concern, especially because conservatives refused to consider the House-passed legislation from last spring,” Sanchez added. “Georgia’s increasingly diverse population, including communities of color who are most likely frontline workers in the pandemic and in most need of health and financial support, needed the COVID relief package months ago, and $600 per person is better than nothing.”

###

Poder Latinx, our mission is to build a political wave of voters where the Latinx community, immigrants, and people of color play a key role in the transformation of the country and become decision-makers in our democracy. Through innovative partnerships, issue-based organizing, and leadership development, Poder Latinx is rapidly expanding the U.S electorate with new and low propensity Latinx voters. In its first six months, Poder Latinx registered 30,000 voters, building a foundation poised to create change starting with the Presidential elections in 2020.