If Democrats and Republicans cannot guarantee healthcare, housing, a basic income, and freedom from police brutality and crushing debt, they will never stand with the people.
Things are about to get even worse for millions of us. Expanded unemployment benefits are ending on July 31. Federal and state moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures are expiring in July and millions can’t pay their rent or mortgage. Forty percent of small businesses could go bankrupt in the largest wave of corporate consolidation ever. Forty-two percent of jobs may never return.
Our emergency demands must be implemented immediately. Debt payments must be suspended at least until there is a vaccine and the pandemic and economic crisis are brought to an end.
If Wall Street gets the biggest bailout in American history. If billionaires get to rake in hundreds of billions in new wealth. If members of Congress get to bailout their own businesses. Then the people are going to get a #PeoplesStimulus.
For months the corporate parties have been telling us to wait our turn for a people’s bailout that has never come. This is our last chance to get a #PeoplesStimulus. Actions at Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s house just helped protesters divert $133 million from the police budget back to the community.
If the Democrats and Republicans cannot bring themselves to guarantee healthcare, housing, a basic income, and freedom from police brutality and crushing debt in the middle of this devastating crisis, then they will never stand with the people. Join or help organize a local action!
With historic unemployment, poverty gripping the country, and militarized police forces brutalizing Americans after Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd, our survival depends on this.
The following emergency measures have already been proposed in Congress but have been disregarded by most in the corporate parties.
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Defund police and divert funds back to schools and social services (#DefundPolice)
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Free healthcare during a global pandemic by expanding Medicare to every man, woman and child (#MedicareForAll)
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Monthly $2,000 cash payments for all (#BasicIncome)
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Protect small business jobs by having the government cover payroll costs for struggling businesses (#CoverPayroll)
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Congressional Bill by Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Sen. Josh Hawley
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Suspend rent and mortgage payments (#CancelRent)
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Suspend all debt payments for student loans and credit card loans (#SuspendDebt)
In addition to these emergency common-sense, justice-centered economic and health safety measures, additional policies must be enacted to help shift the underlying system failures that set us up for this crisis.
The Fed must bail out state and local governments instead of just banks. We must bail out the post office and create a robust vote by mail system to ensure everyone’s votes are counted in the November election. We must form state public banks and initiate a truth and reconciliation process to address systemic racism and poverty. We must swiftly move the Green New Deal forward because climate collapse will usher in a new wave of disasters that corporate capitalism is unequipped to handle. We must stop political corruption including giving no bailout money to corporations with offshore tax havens, lobbying firms, and large advocacy and dark money organizations. We must punish insider trading in Congress and pass a Constitutional amendment to end corporate constitutional rights and overturn Citizens United to get money out of politics.
MPP actions at the homes of Representatives and Senators will build a working-class coalition and local People’s Party hubs around desperately-needed demands that almost everyone can agree on. If the Democratic and Republican parties refuse to stand for the people when we need them most, even after we threaten to replace them with a major new party, then it will become clearer than ever to millions of people that no other effort to reform them would have worked anyway and we do indeed need a new and genuinely-progressive party.
On Saturday, July 11 we will hold honking car parades and march to the homes of our members of Congress to deliver our emergency pandemic demands. We will rally outside their homes and share stories of how the pandemic and systemic racism have affected our lives. We will call them outside to commit to the #PeoplesStimulus.
Sign up to join the action or help organize one at your member of Congress’ house at peoplesparty.org. We’ll connect you with other organizers and your action will go on our events map, where we’ll share it with tens of thousands of people.
MPP has been on the front lines with game-changing allies as co-sponsors or endorsers of important actions aligned with our platform. We’ve driven convoys to support the Women’s March on the Pentagon and the Poor People’s Campaign, stood on the picket lines with teachers in California, and supported the National Democratic Independent Farm Workers Union’s boycott of Driscolls’ Berries, among many other actions.
