Senators Call for Creation of New Fund to Support Essential Frontline Workers
Essential Frontline Worker Compensation Fund would reimburse health care workers, first responders, and other essential workers for medical care, childcare, transportation, temporary housing, and other costs incurred because of the COVID-19 pandemic
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wrote to Congressional leadership calling for the creation of a federal fund to reimburse essential frontline workers for costs incurred while serving the American public during the pandemic. The Essential Frontline Worker Compensation Fund would help workers safely stay on the job and afford medical costs, transportation, temporary housing, childcare, and care for other long-lasting traumas that may come with serving at the forefront of this pandemic – including testing positive for COVID-19.
“Since the start of this crisis, essential frontline workers have been given our deepest thanks and loudest applause,” the Senators wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “Together, we have celebrated their quiet and resilient heroism in the face of an uncertain and unprecedented national crisis. Now, we must make good on our promise that we stand with them and have their backs. We must compensate them for the sacrifices they have made, and continue to make each day, to keep our national healthy, safe, fed, and moving forward.”
The Senators stressed the critical need for such a fund, since for many essential workers, especially low-wage workers, the costs associated with continuing to perform their jobs during the pandemic have been financially straining, and often devastating for those with a COVID-19 diagnosis.
The Senators urged for the fund to at minimum support health care workers (including janitors, cleaning staff, and food service employees working in health care, in-home, and community settings), first responders (including volunteers), sanitation workers, transportation workers, grocery store pharmacy employees, domestic workers, farmworkers, and other workers whose work or workplace are deemed essential by federal, state, and local governments. The fund would be administered by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The full text of the letter is available here.
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