Mnuchin’s Insult to American Workers Ignores the Real Problem

WASHINGTON, D.C. – While Congress continues negotiations around expanded unemployment insurance that runs out in a matter of days, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Fox News that they didn’t want to “pay more people to sit home.” But his words ignore the real problem – that workers cannot go back to work until the coronavirus is under control. America reached the grim milestone of 4 million coronavirus cases this week, all while much of the world has moved on from the virus.

“Mnuchin’s words are an insult to the millions of American workers who have been forced out of their jobs because the Trump administration has failed to control the spread of the coronavirus,” said Lizzy Price, Accountable.US spokesperson. “The Trump administration has failed to control this virus by failing to listen to public health experts and setting up reliable systems of testing and contract tracing, which has kept workers from their jobs. And the program they propped up to keep people on payroll favored the wealthy and well-connected instead of the workers and small businesses that desperately need it. Our country can’t solve for the economic crisis until we solve for the public health crisis. Until then, our workers should not have to bear the cost of this administration’s failures.”

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