HomeMy WebLinkAbout05.19.20 Response from Senator Dianne Feinstein AT1
May 18, 2020
Steve Lambert
Chairman, Butte County Board of Supervisors
25 County Center Drive, Suite 200
Oroville, California 95965
Dear Chairman Lambert:
Thank you for contacting me with your suggestions about how the federal government
can best respond to the needs of Californians during the coronavirus pandemic. As Chairman of
the Butte County Board of Supervisors, your views on this matter are particularly important to
me, and as a former local elected official myself, I welcome the opportunity to respond.
I share your concerns about the deadly coronavirus outbreak, which has
infected millions of people around the world and has crippled the global economy. Many elected
leaders in California have reached out to me to share how this pandemic has brought grief,
financial difficulty, and immense stress to cities and counties across the state. I want you to
know that I hear you, and I am doing everything I can to enhance the federal governments
response to this virus and to restore our economy as quickly and safely as possible.
At a time when state and local governments in California face unprecedented revenue
shortfalls and ongoing public health demands, I strongly support federal direct funding to states,
counties, and cities of all sizes. Congress has already provided $150 billion to states and
counties, but clearly more is needed.
That is why I have cosponsored the Coronavirus Community Relief Act, which would
provide $250 billion in financial assistance to cities with populations under 500,000. I have also
cosponsored legislation that would create a State and Municipal Aid Recovery and Transition
Fund of $500 billion to help state and local governments manage the financial challenges of the
pandemic while maintaining essential services. In addition, I cosponsored the Municipal Bonds
Emergency Relief Act (S. 3550), which would allow the Federal Reserve to buy municipal debt
to help state and local governments finance responses to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since the pandemic began, Congress has passed, and President Trump has signed into
law, four coronavirus response packages that provide trillions of dollars in federal funding to
support vulnerable communities, hospitals, small businesses, and struggling workers and families
across the nation. These laws provide hundreds of billions of dollars to better equip medical
facilities and health care workers on the front lines of this pandemic, develop and test
coronavirus therapeutics and vaccines, and assist state and local governments expand
coronavirus testing and contact tracing capabilities. They also guarantee free coronavirus testing
and expand paid sick leave during the public health emergency so workers do not have to choose
between staying healthy and getting paid.
In addition, these laws provide direct payments to most Americans, help small businesses
that retain workers on their payrolls, and assist individuals who are laid off, furloughed, or have
their hours reduced by making them eligible for expanded unemployment benefits.
All of us are in this fight together, and I am thankful for the efforts of local elected
officials like you and the millions of Americans who are working to stop the spread of the virus,
protect the vulnerable, and save livesoften at great personal risk and sacrifice. I strongly
support the decisions by California Governor Gavin Newsom and local leaders to ensure that
Californiansexcept for those carrying out essential servicesstay at home and practice social
distancing to slow the transmission of the virus.
I will keep your letter in mind as Congress begins work on another coronavirus response
package. If you would like to read more about the actions the federal government has taken to
address coronavirus, as well as information about how my office may be of assistance to you
during this crisis, please visit the following website: https://sen.gov/V97P.
Again, thank you for writing. If I can be of further assistance to you or your office,
please do not hesitate to have your staff contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841.
Sincerely,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator
DF/JP