Pressley: Direct payments are 'survival checks,' not stimulus

[demmiblue]

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) called a new expected round of direct payments a matter of survival, saying average Americans need further relief for basic necessities.

“We have to get urgent relief to our families. Again, at this point, these are not stimulus checks. They’re stimulating nothing. These are survival checks,” Pressley told CNN’s Abby Phillip on Sunday. “This is about basic needs, about families needing to remain safely housed, about purchasing diapers and formula, inhalers, insulin. And the truth of the matter is $600 will not even cover a month’s rent.”

Asked whether a potential Senate deal could meet those needs, Pressley responded: “I have not seen any text as of yet. So I will need to go through that and see if it's responsive to what my mayors have told me they need, what our community health centers have told me they need, what our families say they need, what our small businesses, our restaurants say that they need. And so, you know, I'm waiting for the text so I can do that.”

Pressley has used the term “survival checks” for direct payments before and blasted reports that the Senate package will reduce a second round of payments to $600 per recipient, noting that in most of the country such a payment would not cover a month’s rent.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/531062-pressley-direct-payments-are-survival-checks

[demmiblue]

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