Schatz Urges Support for Emergency Rental Assistance

US Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) and 30 of his senate colleagues sent a letter on Thursday calling on President Trump to work with Congress to enact legislation that will provide emergency assistance and protections to renters.

Sen. Schatz said the letter was sent as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on and “millions of households are facing impossible choices between paying the rent or mortgage, or purchasing food or medicine.”

“Given recent spikes in COVID-19 caseloads and an economic crisis that continues to deepen, we urge you to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis to enact legislation that provides the emergency assistance renters need to stay in their homes,” the senators wrote.

Along with Schatz, the letter was also signed by US Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai‘i), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

A full copy of the letter can be found here.