Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. Supports Bill to Protect Homeowners during Coronavirus Crisis

Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. co-sponsored the COVID-19 Homeowner Assistance Fund Act today. The $75 billion bill (H.R. 6729) would provide financial assistance to homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgage during the coronavirus global pandemic. It would help them pay their mortgage as well as property taxes, property insurance, utilities, and other housing-related costs to prevent foreclosures.

“The loss of housing is one of the most common concerns for constituents in my district,” said Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. “I wanted to co-sponsor this bill because it gets people the money they need to stay in their homes during this public health and economic crisis. We are still struggling to reopen our country. We don’t need a housing crisis during this difficult time.”

Rep. Payne, Jr. has been working diligently to fight for his constituents and all Americans during the coronavirus global pandemic. He introduced a bill to get hazard pay for the nation’s federal frontline workers, such as TSA agents, daycare workers, and veteran health care workers. He co-wrote a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve a ventilator design that could help supply local hospitals in New Jersey and the rest of the country that the FDA approved a week later. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response & Recovery of the House Committee on Homeland Security, he has been in constant contact with FEMA officials to support them in their efforts to aid and protect the American people.

In addition, he has voted to approve five coronavirus-related aid bills in the House to help the nation survive this public health crisis. The most recent legislation, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act (H.R. 6800) was a $3 trillion emergency stimulus package that would provide roughly $1 trillion to state and local governments to help them pay coronavirus-related costs, another $1,200 payment to low and middle-income Americans with a maximum of $6,000 per family, $200 billion in hazard pay to essential workers, and an additional $75 billion to improve the country’s coronavirus testing and contact tracing.

The first law, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act (H.R. 6074), provided $8.3 billion to fund medical efforts. The second one, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201), allowed Americans to get free coronavirus testing and workers to get mandatory paid sick leave. The third one, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (H.R. 748) authorized more than $2 trillion to Americans in coronavirus aid, including direct payments to low and middle-income workers, increased unemployment benefits, $349 billion to small businesses through grants and interest-free loans, $150 billion to state and local governments to help them handle coronavirus-related expenses, and $200 billion to support America’s hospitals and health care workers.

The fourth bill, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (H.R. 266), allocated $310 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program to allow small businesses to pay their employees, $75 billion to health care facilities for protective equipment and care, and $25 billion to enhance the country’s coronavirus testing capability.

Billionaire Robert Smith Launches New HBCU Initiative to Ease Burden of Student Loans

Billionaire Robert F. Smith–the billionaire who donated $34 million last year to cover the student debt of the Morehouse College class of 2019, 400 graduates–announced this week the Student Freedom nonprofit initiative, in order to help ease the heavy burden of student loans at Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Starting in Fall 2021 at up to 11 HBCUs, the organization will offer 5,000 juniors and seniors each year a flexible, lower-risk alternative to high-interest private student loans–an ISA.

According to Time.com, the initiative is launching with a $50 million grant from Fund II Foundation, a charitable organization of which Smith–the wealthiest Black man in the United States, according to Forbes– is founding director and president, and has set a goal of raising at least $500 million by October to make the program “self-sustaining” through investments and graduates’ income-based repayments.

The program’s partners include Michael Lomax, CEO of the United Negro College Fund; Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research at Harvard; the Jain Family Institute, and the Education Finance Institute.

As Inside Higher Ed analyzed, Similar Income-Share agreements have been criticized in the past since high-earning graduates could end up paying more than they would with traditional student loans. Supporters say that the programs are innovative ways to fund higher education.

[SOURCE: IBL NEWS]

Washington D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton on passage of D.C. statehood bill

After managing the debate on the District of Columbia statehood bill (H.R. 51) on the House floor, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) celebrated House passage of the bill today with House leadership and her colleagues following overwhelming support by 232 Democrats, most of them cosponsors of the bill. The bill had 227 cosponsors, more than enough to guarantee passage. Neither chamber of Congress had passed the bill before.

“We are buoyed by the priority the House gave D.C. statehood at a time when COVID-19 has meant that only essential bills are coming to the floor this year,” Norton said. “We are undaunted by the lack of support in the Republican-controlled Senate, and the White House. We are certainly not discouraged by President Trump’s outspoken opposition to home rule and his attempts to control the District of Columbia and the city’s police force in acts of brazen presidential irresponsibility.

“Far from underestimating the work to come, however, our strategy is in place for full speed ahead. That strategy will soon become apparent, but today we celebrate.”

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser statement on historic vote for statehood

Mayor Muriel Bowser issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted 232-180 to pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51), the first time a chamber of Congress has approved a bill to make the District the 51st state.

Today, with this historic vote, DC is closer than we have ever been to becoming the 51st state.

More than 160 years ago, Washingtonian Frederick Douglass told us: Power concedes nothing without a demand. As Washingtonians and as taxpaying American citizens, we are demanding what is owed to us – the rights guaranteed to us by the U.S. Constitution.

It is past time to fix this injustice. It is true that DC is more brown and more liberal than many other states. But the issue of taxation without representation was settled more than 200 years ago through the Declaration of Independence, and disenfranchising more than 700,000 taxpaying Americans is wrong no matter our politics or demographics. Who we elect is our business, and denying us statehood based on who we might send to Congress is both undemocratic and un-American.

Now, just as generations of Americans have worked over the centuries to build a more perfect union, we, too, are ready to seize this moment. Today, we stand on the shoulders of generations of Washingtonians who demanded access to our nation’s democracy – from the abolitionists of the 1800s to the Home Rule activists of the 1900s.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. And statehood is our demand.

On behalf of all Washingtonians, I congratulate Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. On both a personal and professional level, this is an extraordinary accomplishment for the Congresswoman, and we are all grateful not only for her tireless work on statehood, but also her commitment to uplifting DC residents and putting DC in the best position to become the 51st state.

I was born without representation, but I swear – I will not die without representation. Together, we will achieve DC statehood, and when we do, we will look back on this day and remember all who stood with us on the right side of history.

NAACP APPLAUDS HOUSE PASSAGE OF “GEORGE FLOYD JUSTICE IN POLICING ACT”

The NAACP applauded the bi-partisan passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of H.R. 7120, the “George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.” The legislation represents unprecedented action and a significant first step to prevent and address violence against the Black community by law enforcement all over the country.

While there is more to be done, the legislation seeks to hold law enforcement officials accountable for their actions. It bans chokeholds and “no-knock warrants,” requires body-worn cameras, removes iron-clad protections for police officers such as “qualified immunity,” provides stronger investigative authority for federal and state officials, ends racial and religious profiling, limits military equipment on American streets, and classifies lynching as a hate crime.

Derrick Johnson, President & CEO, of the NAACP, stated: “This legislation represents the only way forward. If we’ve learned anything from these past weeks, it’s that the American people are demanding systemic change. We need bold, transformative action to rethink policing and reimagine public safety in our communities.

For far too long, police across the country have operated with impunity and no regard for the people they are sworn to protect and serve. We have witnessed the tragic consequences in the brutal killings of George Floyd to Breonna Taylor to Elijah McClain, and countless others who have lost their lives to state-sponsored violence.

We now call upon the Senate to put partisanship aside and do the right thing by passing this seminal legislation. The Black community and, indeed, our entire nation cannot afford to risk one more life and wait for one more day. Congress must seize this extraordinary moment in time to push for the elimination of racism in policing and in the criminal justice system writ large, and to rid our society of the structural inequality that has tormented and held back our nation for far too long.