A rescue agreement project
PANDEMIC ASSISTANCE MUST CONTINUE UNTIL THE PANDEMIC IS OVER
#ExtendPUA | @ExtendPUA
presents
#JAMTHELINES
in support of
FPUC
IT UP!
(pronounced eff-puhk)
CALL. YOUR. REPS.
NOVEMBER 17
The next official #JamTheLines event is Tuesday Nov. 17,12-6p ET.
Start Tuesday and don't stop until relief is passed.
November 17th - The Senate and House are back and we are jamming their phone lines for COVID relief. Join millions of Americans in demanding the Senate take action and pass comprehensive COVID relief. Call every day until relief is passed. It takes 5 minutes!
HOW DO I DO IT?
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Find your Electeds' numbers by clicking the button above.
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Our tool has your Representative and Senators' phone numbers and is searchable by state. It has DC and Local numbers.
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Read the script below ahead of time or write your own.
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Pop out your phone and start calling!
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Follow it up with a tweet and tag us so we can amplify you: @ExtendPUA. Tag your Senators too!
Optional: Make it a party and get your friends in a Zoom room to call together!
WHAT DO I SAY?
Yo, Mitch!
Either a staffer will answer your phone call or you will be sent to voicemail. Staff is tallying the feedback they receive. The more often they hear about an issue, the more likely it is that it will make it to the Senator. Keep your call short and concise so more people can get through! Make sure you say your name and zip code!
"Hello. My name is (your name) and I am a constituent from (your zip code/city) and I am calling with with ExtendPUA.org.
Thank you so much for taking my call.
(We strongly encourage you to insert a sentence or two about your personal story here. What your job was, what will happen to you without $600 or without UI, if your PEUC or PUA is running out, how much you make in UI, or if you're an essential worker, what your experience has been.)
As a constituent, I need the Senator (or Congressman/woman) to publicly demand that a comprehensive relief bill is brought to a vote and passed immediately. Skinny bills aren't enough; we need a comprehensive pandemic relief bill, with a focus on The People. Negotiations must continue in earnest and a solution must be found before the end of the year. It must include extended and expanded UI and PUA including the full $600. It must include healthcare and rent relief. It must include funding for state and local governments. It should not include corporate immunity. Millions of Americans (or State-ans) are in incredibly desperate situations and 13 million more will be cut off from support completely in December. We need our Senator to be loud about this for us. Hold press conferences and tweet about this issue. ExtendPUA.org can connect you with messaging and constituent stories to amplify. Take public action. And vote yes. It should be the Senator's first priority. We need you.
Thank you for listening. I really appreciate you getting this message to the Senator.
You can stop there or feel free to include a sentence or two of your personal story, something from our talking points, or any of the rest of the items on our mission that you support.
AMPLIFY
#MitchBetterHaveMyMoney | #Savethe600 | #ExtendPUA | #ReliefNOW | #DoNotAbandonUS
TWEET @ US
TWEET YOUR SENATORS
I'm joining @ExtendPUA to #JamTheLines and you should too! We need comprehensive relief and we have to demand it. Join us: ExtendPUA.org/JamTheLines
Post a photo or video of you calling your Senator or a screen grab from your own call party! We will share on our socials. #JamTheLines #MitchBetterHaveMyMoney @ExtendPUA
Have you heard about #JamTheLines? Thousands of people are calling their Senators Nov 10 to jam up the Senate phone lines in support of comprehensive COVID relief. #JamTheLines #ReliefNow @ExtendPUA
#MitchBetterHaveMyMoney | #Savethe600 | #ExtendPUA | #ReliefNOW | #DoNotAbandonUS
SHARE
Hey Capitol Hill... you are about to HEAR from us. You may even want to hire a few more staffers for the lines; I’ve heard there are some people looking for jobs. #JamTheLines #ReliefNow @ExtendPUA
TWEET THE HILL
TWEET THE PRESS
TWEET YOUR MOM
MOM! Look, I know I should've called sooner but I'm dialing my Senator day and night to #ExtendFPUC. You should, too! #JamTheLines #MitchBetterHaveMyMoney @ExtendPUA #ReliefNOW
MISS PARTIES?
THROW ONE.
Get your friends, neighbors, colleagues together on zoom sometime between 12p and 4p and take turns calling your Senators while getting to spend time together. You can also host an open party (we can help promote) so people don't have to call alone. Theme them if you want!
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
We have been calling and meeting with Senators for months and even though a bill hasn't passed - all of the work has been working. Republicans who previously staunchly opposed any sort of relief bill support one now. The spending limit has gone up for many. The FPUC went from $0 to $400 in a White House proposal. They are movable.
We cannot give up. 26 million people have been without the FPUC $600 for 3 months. Up to 40 million people are at risk of eviction. 54 million are projected to be hungry in this country with no further relief. PUA and PEUC are expiring so tens of millions of people still on unemployment are about to be pushed off yet another cliff. We need relief passed and extended until the pandemic is over.
The election is subsiding and the Senate is returning to DC. We need to make sure they know we haven't forgotten. Our problems didn't disappears. And they cannot abandon US.
The House passed the HEROES and HEROES 2.0 Acts, which are comprehensive relief solutions. Mitch McConnell refused to bring the bills to the floor, instead settling for inadequate "skinny" solutions. McConnell needs to either being HEROES 2 to the Senate floor or propose a solution that is actually comprehensive (we've sent him an outline of what this would be). We need all of the other Senators to pressure him to do this and to vote yes on comprehensive relief.
What is Comprehensive Relief?
Check out mission out with our list of 10 asks here.
IS THERE ANY POINT IN CALLING SYMPATHETIC DEMOCRATS?
Yes! Our sympathetic Senators need to be louder about this for and with us. Demand their voices, demand their outrage, demand they DO something about this. Finger pointing is not the answer, even when it's accurate.
WHY $600? CAN'T WE DO LESS?
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State UI rates are abysmal. They are meant to hold a person over while they are finding a new job, not in a time when people are not able to go to work.
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The $600 was agreed up bipartisanly in the CARES Act because it makes up the difference between the average stage UI rate ($370) and the average income of unemployed individuals ($970). It was meant to provide people a livable wage. Those that are making more on UI because of the $600, previously had a job that wasn’t providing a liveable wage.
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The $600 has kept the economy in motion during a global pandemic. The people receiving it are spending it on rent, utilities, health insurance, medicine, and groceries. This means people don’t suffer AND the economy keeps functioning. Any reduction will hurt the economy.
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More here: https://www.extendpua.org/demand600
WHY DON'T WE JUST GET A JOB?
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COVID cases are higher now than they were when the Cares Act passed. It is not safe to work.
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There are no jobs to go back to. According to the EPI, there were still nearly 15 million fewer jobs in June than in February. And according to CNN a total of 3.7 million unemployed Americans’ previous jobs are gone for good.
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More than 6 million people in America missed their rent or mortgage payment in September. That's not a choice of individuals saturated with job opportunities.
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Even jobs that may come back are not able to, until the pandemic subsides. Restaurants and travel are at a small percentage of their usual job capacity and live entertainment is gone completely.
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More here.
AND THEN?
GLAD YOU ASKED!
