Statement of Congressman Danny K. Davis on Impact on African Americans Should FPUC Be Allowed to Expire

July 2, 2020

“These past months have demonstrated with unblinking clarity the impact of systemic racism on every aspect of our society. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report released yesterday analyzing the demographic data of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) recipients contains further proof of the cruel disproportionate impact on communities of color, especially African Americans. The report details how minorities make up a disproportionate share of recipients who will now bear a disproportionate share of the impact of the expiration of FPUC at the end of July. This despite that fact that:

• African Americans already make up a disproportionate share of “essential workers” especially in the key front-line areas of health care, food and agriculture and industrial, commercial, residential facilities and services and despite the fact that African American essential workers in these front-line areas are already the lowest paid.

• African Americans already make up a disproportionate share of those hospitalized by the virus and a disproportionate share of those who have already died as a result of the virus.

• African Americans are already bracing for mass evictions as evictions for federally-backed properties, accounting for around a quarter of renters in the U.S., were frozen for 120 days under the CARES Act, expiring July 25, 2020.”

“The House-passed Heros Act which extends the FPUC and other protections for working Americans address some of these inequities as it seeks to protect so many of our people who have become dislocated from our social/economic system due to the coronavirus. I join with Ways and Means Chairman Neal in calling on Senate Republicans to follow the lead of House Democrats and extend pandemic unemployment insurance and other critical provisions in the Heros Act. Failure to continue a substantial FPUC would represent a racially-discriminatory action. Period.,” said Ways and Means Worker and Families Subcommittee Chairman Danny K. Davis (D-IL).