Congress Needs to Extend the $600/week PUA Unemployment Benefit
I sent this letter to my congressman, who is testifying in the House today about the need for Congress to extend the $600 per week unemployment benefit established by the CARES Act, in response to a solicitation on the page of a Facebook friend who is a passionate activist for the arts community in my city.
“I am a model, actress, and filmmaker. A short film I co-wrote, co-produced and starred in was recently accepted to several film festivals. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these festivals had to switch from in-person events to virtual, online-only showings, which has deprived filmmakers from the benefits of attending important networking events that allow them to promote their work and obtain funding for future projects. My film “Choices” is a very timely statement on racial and ageist judgments and bigotries and how they affect relationships and crucial decisions.
The pandemic has presented a challenge to me, my actors and crews in promoting our film.
Also, before the lockdown in PA was implemented in mid-March, I was excited about my first big role in a theatrical presentation of the classic American play, Our Town. Unfortunately, the looming threat of the spread of the virus forced us to close down rehearsals and cancel our upcoming performances. We were due to open the play on March 20th, after three months of rehearsals.
In addition, I had several lucrative modeling shoots planned that I was forced to cancel, around that time.
I’m a cancer survivor, so I am at higher risk of COVID-19. I have been extremely careful. Despite limited re-opening, I remain mostly quarantined. I don’t really go out much. Many of my model friends have gone back to shooting, as if everything is normal, but being high-risk, I do not feel I can. I cannot trust that any photographer or model I work with is not infected — especially since testing isn’t widely available, nor is it expedient. My friends who’ve been tested have had to wait 5–6 days on average for results.
As you can see, my already sporadic freelance income has been severely cut due to COVID-19. PUA has been a godsend. Without PUA, I am certain I’d be in very dire straits economically. I own my own home and would be at risk of losing it. I had no savings prior to this, and had to defer maintenance on my house, and PUA has allowed me to save some money and get this maintenance done.
Contrary to what certain members of Congress say to justify cutting off PUA, that extra $600 a week is NOT what’s preventing me from going back to work. Indeed, I have been working some during this crisis. I’ve adapted by doing video editing work from home. But it is neither consistent nor reliable. I report it every week when I do my weekly certifications.
I love what I do. I’m a very creative person. To not be able to perform in plays and films..to not be able to model and create beautiful photographs and art… to be unable to go to film festivals and market my short film that I am SO proud of…this is all very painful. Creative people know what I mean when I say it feels like a limb has been amputated from me, that I cannot engage in my creative career work.
PUA has enabled me not just to stay afloat financially, but to have some time to develop future scripts and plans for documentaries that I feel will put forth powerful messages and have an impact on society. Cutting off my PUA will force me to abandon these projects and possibly have to accept risky projects that may compromise my health.
I feel it is very unfair to punish workers for the lack of responsibility of certain political leaders who continue to put us at risk and have led our country to the dubious distinction of ranking among countries like Brazil and Russia with the highest rates of infections and deaths. If our leaders refuse to keep us on lockdown until the danger is mitigated, we should not have to pay with either our lives, or our livelihoods.
Thank you for allowing me to add my two cents to this debate.”
Here’s what I didn’t say, because I didn’t want to get overly political or sound too disgruntled. But I have a deep resentment over the fact that certain members of Congress complain that the extra $600/a week keeps people from working. Do they not care about people’s lives? Scratch that. It’s apparent that in so many ways, they don’t. The fact that one party is bribing schools to re-open by threatening their funding, yet also recognizes it isn’t safe to host an in-person convention, tells you everything you need to know.
If $600 a week unemployment is more than workers make at their jobs, then maybe their jobs don’t pay enough. JUST A THOUGHT. How long ago did Congress raise the minimum wage? Oh yeah. The Democratic-controlled House voted to raise it last year, which would be the first increase in ten years, but the same party that thinks we’re not working because unemployment is more lucrative, is letting that particular bill languish on the Senate Majority Leader’s DESK.
Here’s another thing I’m resentful about. One party has no problem propagating misinformation about the wearing of masks, and many of its members not only refuse to wear masks in the halls of Congress but some of them berate their staff for wearing them, which has led to their supporters creating problems in the general public. As I pointed out in my letter above, I am a cancer survivor. I certainly didn’t go out much when we were in lockdown, because it was a requirement. But now that my state has selectively re-opened, I have no interest in increasing my outings after seeing all the viral videos of Karens throwing temper tantrums and screaming about “my freedom” when asked to wear a mask at Walmart and the like.
The mismanagement of the pandemic here in the U.S. is glaring, when you look at how other countries have gotten this right. They locked down right away, and gave their citizens decent stipends to pay their bills just until the immediate crisis passed. Many of them have now re-opened and have been able to keep the virus under control, because they’ve escaped our horror show of certain politicians and media pundits continuing to propagate dangerous misinformation, as if they don’t even care if they kill off their base. I don’t see a lot of reports of people in Europe, for example, pushing 5G/Bill Gates conspiracies, or using ridiculous excuses to not wear masks like a frightening number of Palm Beach County residents did at a recent Board of Commissioners meeting.
So maybe if the same politicians who don’t want me collecting enough government benefits to pay my bills would stop f**king indoctrinating their supporters to do stupid things in defiance of the public health experts that put everyone else at RISK, I’d be a lot less defensive about them wanting to take away our unemployment.
I’d also really like these same politicians to stop doling out my tax money to their big donors and cronies. Did Steve Mnuchin’s County Club REALLY need several million in stimulus aid? And how about all the money that got shuttled to the Kushners, and Trump’s businesses?
It’s the height of hypocrisy to judge American workers who are struggling to pay their rent for needing assistance in the worst economy we’ve seen in my lifetime, while at the same time passing out PPP money to rich jerkholes who use it to buy Lamborghinis.
Copyright 2020 S. Wade
