Patrick Semansky, File via AP, Evan Vucci/AP
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told MSNBC that President Donald Trump walking away from stimulus negotiations would cause the US to be “staring down the barrel” of one of the largest eviction crises ever.
- “We’re looking at a potential second wave that could be catastrophic,” the Democrat said after Trump abruptly ended discussions over federal coronavirus relief. “We are looking at the potential of hunger in the United States exploding on a level that we have never seen since the Great Depression.”
- After Trump first told his team to end talks on another COVID-19 relief bill until after the election, he appeared to change direction and urged lawmakers to approve $1,200 direct payments and small-business aid.
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Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told MSNBC on Tuesday night that if President Donald Trump walked away from passing a new federal coronavirus relief package, the US economy would be “staring down the barrel” of one of the largest mass evictions in American history since the Great Depression.
On top of the US already going through severe fallout, both in terms of public health and the economy, Ocasio-Cortez said 30 million to 40 million people were at risk of eviction because of Trump’s decision Tuesday to halt negotiations.
“We’re looking at a potential second wave that could be catastrophic,” she told the TV host Rachel Maddow. “We are looking at the potential of hunger in the United States exploding on a level that we have never seen since the Great Depression.”
Ocasio-Cortez, seen as an influential progressive, highlighted that nine ZIP codes in New York City, which has some of the strictest COVID-19 guidelines and mask adherence, were at risk of being at least partially shut down because of a sharp increase in cases.
The 30-year-old lawmaker argued that mass evictions and hunger could be prevented if a new spending bill were ratified.
“We need to make sure that we get state and local funding so that municipal governments can stay above the water at least until the end of the year,” she said. “We need to make sure we’re funding large-scale testing and tracing programs, and we need to make sure that we’re really developing a vaccine responsibly and not pushing one out for the sake of an election.”
After Trump first signaled an end to stimulus negotiations until after the election, prompting a swift drop on the stock markets on Tuesday, he urged lawmakers to approve $1,200 direct payments for American taxpayers as well as small-business aid and direct assistance to airlines to prevent layoffs.
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