VIDEO: What’s happening in Congress this week

The Coronavirus pandemic is affecting life throughout the world. Almost overnight, it has changed the daily lives of millions of Americans. And our country and our community need relief now.

Congress needs to ensure that all people have access to COVID-19 medical treatment, including those with DACA and TPS status.

This is critical for the health and well-being of all Americans. Congress must also ensure that all Americans can feed their families, pay their rent and make their mortgage payments.

Community-based organizations who are on the front lines of this pandemic also need relief to make payroll and keep their doors open. They are providing critical health, economic, educational, and legal support services for families in dire need.

Meanwhile millions of children around the country are out of school as states respond to the spread of the virus.

Here are three things that we’d like to see a bill from Congress address:

1) Sustain early learning programs like Head Start, which should be strengthened to meet quality child care needs of families once the current situation improves.

2) Increase funding to grow the capacity of Title I, II, III, and IV to meet the educational technology needs of English Learners and low-income students, in addition to providing social and emotional supports upon returning to school.

3) Ensure student borrower protections: Economic hardship will hit individuals with student loans particularly hard. A relief package should therefore cancel student loan payments, institute automatic loan forbearance, cease all involuntary payments on student loans, and ensure that borrowers in eligible repayment plans are still on track to forgiveness.

For more updates this week, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @WeAreUnidosUS.