RESULTS Campaigns Weekly Update August 4, 2020
Quote of the Week
“This week is going to be the critical week for the Congress of the United States on the federal tools that will be available for us to deal with this pandemic.”
– Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) speaking on the August 2020 RESULTS National Webinar
Table of Contents
- Global Poverty Campaigns Update
- U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
- RESULTS Announcements
- Upcoming Events
- Grassroots Resources
Global Poverty Campaigns Update
QUICK ACTION Write a letter to the editor on prioritizing global health and education during the COVID-19 crisis
Got Fifteen Minutes? Contact your senators and representatives about the COVID-19 supplemental spending bill
This week decisions on the final COVID-19 emergency spending bill must be made before Congress checks out for the August recess and the elections. If Congress does not include a strong global response to the global pandemic in this final bill, the consequences for people living in low-resources settings will be dire. Reports from the field say the small allocations for COVID-19 have now run out. Currently, the Senate Republican bill only has $4.3 billion total for foreign assistance, which includes $3 billion for Gavi and vaccine preparedness. This bill includes nothing for the broader global health crisis; nothing for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and nothing to fight the current famines or increased cases of wasting in children.
If you haven’t already, reach out to your senators and representatives today and ask them to speak to Senate/House leadership. If you have reached out, be sure to follow up. Then get the latest on the supplemental in the days ahead via our blog.
We are asking for the following:
A global response of at least $20 billion for development assistance in the next COVID-19 supplemental spending bill, and a designation of $10 billion of that to be used as follows:
- $4 billion over two years for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria
- $4 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
- $2 billion for anti-hunger programs, with at least $500 million for nutrition
Your voices this week can make a difference. Urge your members of Congress to contact leadership now.
TAKE ACTION: Contact your senators and representatives about a global response to this global pandemic. Ask them to speak to Senate/House leadership right away. Use our Global Poverty July Action Sheet, laser talk, leave behind, and online alert to take action and to engage others in calling and writing.
Got Another Fifteen Minutes? Write your local paper about the COVID-19 supplemental spending bill
The recent COVID-19 bill in the House of Representatives failed to include any international funding to fight coronavirus and its fall out. As we’ve said all along, it’s clear that a global pandemic requires a global response. So, it now falls to the Senate to make sure that happens. The U.S. can and must play a role in slowing COVID-19’s spread globally and protecting access to other health services and education. Make sure your legislators get that message loud and clear in their local paper.
TAKE ACTION: Sharpen those writing tools – or take hold of our online action alert – and write your letter to the editor on how Congress must act now to mitigate the global health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Development assistance of at least $20 billion must show up in the next COVID-19 supplemental bill.
QUICK NEWS ON GLOBAL POVERTY
Piece on tuberculosis in the New York Times. A new article on the current state of tuberculosis around the world, in the context of the coronavirus crisis, has been published in the New York Times. Supported in part by David Bryden, RESULTS TB Advocacy Officer, this striking piece is titled “’The Biggest Monster’ Is Spreading. And It’s Not the Coronavirus.” Read, share, and consider penning your own letter to the editor in response.
Another new piece on global health. Take a look at this article in the Council on Foreign Relation’s ThinkGlobalHealth newsletter titled “Mothers, Children, and the Terrible Choice Between COVID-19 and Other Infections”. It speaks directly to our work in shoring up global health funding in this time of the COVID-19 crisis.
U.S. Poverty Campaigns Update
QUICK ACTION Tell Congress to fund emergency rental assistance now
Tell Congress – Failure is not an option
This is the week. That is the message both Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) delivered on last Saturday’s RESULTS National Webinar. This is the week Congress must find a way forward to help tens of millions of Americans still struggling through the COVID economic crisis. Millions of low-income Americans face eviction in the coming weeks as eviction moratoria and increased unemployment benefits have expired. To understand what’s at stake, read our new RESULTS Blog post on how years of housing discrimination have resulted in black communities having nearly three times the infection rate and six times the death rate from the virus as white communities.
Rumors are that, despite the logjam, there may be growing support for including rental assistance in a final bill. That means your advocacy is working. But it is no time to rest. No one is off the hook in this fight. House leaders must stand firm behind the needed rental provisions it passed in the HEROES Act and Senate leaders must think much bigger than the dangerously inadequate $3.3 billion in rental assistance in their HEALS Act. And we as advocates must push for every one of our members of Congress to demand their leadership get it done. The cost of falling short is too high.
TAKE ACTION: Continue to contact Senate and House housing aides to express your frustration that Congress is not taking this crisis seriously. Local eviction proceedings are already starting and unless Congress acts now, millions of families will face homelessness while the pandemic still rages. Use the August U.S. Poverty Action to again urge members of Congress (through their housing aides) to tell Sens. Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer, and Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy, to include $100 billion in emergency rental assistance and a national moratorium on evictions in the final COVID bill. Data from NLIHC shows how great the need is in your state. Throughout the week, keep up with what’s happening in DC on our coronavirus and poverty blog.
Got Fifteen Minutes? Use media to pressure Congress to act
With negotiations over a new COVID-19 bill progressing slowly, we must use all the tools in our advocacy toolbox to pressure Congress into action. Congressional leaders act when they feel pressure from their rank-and-file members and rank-and-file members act when they feel pressure from constituents. This is an election year and members of Congress are particular attentive to local media highlighting their actions (or lack thereof) – use that leverage to call on your members of Congress by name to pass a new COVID-19 bill now that includes $100 billion in rental assistance and a national moratorium on evictions.
TAKE ACTION: Take fifteen minutes to submit your own letter to the editor today urging Congress to make sure millions of renters are not evicted from their homes. The August U.S. Poverty Action has a sample letter you can personalize or you can use our online media alert to send your letter today. If you get published, send a copy of your letter to your Senate and House housing aides ASAP and also let RESULTS know by filling out our media report form.
QUICK NEWS ON U.S. POVERTY
Urge others to take action on housing. Invite friends, family, and colleagues to join our fight for rental assistance using our online housing alert (www.tinyurl.com/rentreliefnow). Copy and paste this graphic into e-mails and social media and urge people to take action.
Study shows increased unemployment not a disincentive to work. Last week, the $600/week boost in unemployment benefits expired. Deciding whether to extend it is one of the biggest sticking points in the current COVID-19 negotiations in Congress. Some lawmakers argue that the $600 is too generous and is resulting in people not returning to work. However, a new study from Yale counteracts that argument. “We find no evidence that more generous benefits disincentivized work either at the onset of the expansion or as firms looked to return to business over time”, the researchers note. In fact, they found that those receiving more generous unemployment benefits resumed job searches at the same or slightly quicker rates as those with less generous benefits.
RESULTS Announcements
Register for the September National Webinar. Beginning in September, you will need a password to access our monthly national webinars. To receive the password, please fill out our new webinar registration form. We will send you the password two days before the webinar. Also, please note that due to the Labor Day holiday, our next national webinar will be Saturday, September 12 at 1:00 pm ET.
Putting The Righteous Mind into practice. The recent book club for The Righteous Mind will meet on Tuesday, August 11 at 9:00 pm ET. They will practice applying ideas from the book to RESULTS’ laser talks, rewriting them to appeal to different audiences. If you’ve read the book and are interested in putting your knowledge into practice, join the meeting here, meeting ID: 655 036 085, passcode: 641539. If you’d like to suggest other actions for the book club, e-mail Jim Driggers.
Join continued book discussion on racism. The RESULTS Anti-Oppression Grassroots Group will host the next book discussion on So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo on Tuesday, August 18. In this discussion, we’ll briefly review what was covered on the last call, talk about the remaining chapters (chapters 6-end), and brainstorm ways to take action. The webinar is August 18 at 9:00 pm ET. Join by logging in at https://results.zoom.us/j/390106571 or dialing (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, meeting ID: 390 106 571. Also, if you are interested in joining the Anti-Oppression Grassroots Group, please contact Jos Linn for more information.
Congratulations to Bob Dickerson Award winners. We thrilled to announce that Sarah Miller or RESULTS St. Louis (U.S.) and Anne Child of RESULTS Oak Ridge (Global) are this year’s recipients of the Bob Dickerson Grassroots Leadership Award. Join the August National Webinar at mark 57:13 to learn all the amazing reasons why Anne and Sarah are so deserving of this award. Congratulations!
Visit coronavirus blog for updates. Things will move fast as Congress finalizes its next COVID-19 relief package. Read the RESULTS coronavirus blog for the latest updates and actions you can take.
Receive action alerts via text. We are setting up a system to send some of our action alerts via text. If you’d like to receive text action alerts, please text RESULTS to 50457 to sign up for text action alerts.
Upcoming Events
Congressional schedule. The House and Senate are in session. Submit your remote meeting requests today.
Tuesday, August 11: New Advocate Orientation, 12:00 pm ET. Sign up online.
Tuesday, August 11: Putting The Righteous Mind Into Practice webinar, 9:00 pm ET. Join the meeting using this link, meeting ID: 655 036 085, passcode: 641539.
Monday, August 17: Global Poverty Free Agents Webinars, 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/464361707 or, by phone, (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID 464361707.
Tuesday, August 18: U.S. Poverty Free Agents Webinars, 1:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/324294681 or dial by phone at (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, meeting ID 324 294 681.
Tuesday, August 18: So You Want to Talk About Race book discussion, 9:00 pm ET. Login at https://results.zoom.us/j/390106571 or dialing (929) 436-2866 or (669) 900-6833, meeting ID: 390 106 571.
Wednesday, August 26: New Advocate Orientation, 8:30 pm ET. Sign up online.
Saturday, September 12: RESULTS National Webinar, 1:00 pm ET. Join at https://results.zoom.us/j/994444828. You can also join by phone at (669) 900-6833 or (929) 436-2866, meeting ID 994 444 828. Please register for the webinar to receive the password to login.
Grassroots Resources
Learn about the RESULTS Experts on Poverty.
Do you have a new person in your RESULTS group or info to update? Use our Volunteer Information Form to add them.
Find actions and volunteer resources on our Current Volunteers page, including our anti-oppression resources.
Remember to please report your recent grassroots successes in lobby meetings, media pieces, and outreach activities.
If you have a question, comment, or suggestion for the RESULTS/REF Board, please e-mail Lindsay Saunders at [email protected]. View Board minutes and Annual Reports.
RESULTS Staff directory.