Amidst Unemployment Crisis, North Carolinians Mystified By Tillis & Burr’s Silence

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 28, 2020

Amidst Unemployment Crisis, North Carolinians Mystified By Tillis & Burr’s Silence: “Why Don’t We Hear Their Voices?”

CBC Editorial: “Ending the $600 benefit for 30 million Americans is a colossal mistake”

Raleigh, N.C. - With federal unemployment payments for more than 800,000 North Carolinians now expired, North Carolina’s Capitol Broadcasting Company asks the question on everyone’s minds: Where are Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr?

After noting that average unemployment payments in North Carolina will drop from $877 to $277 this week, the CBC editorial board demanded answers from Tillis and Burr:

“In the U.S. Senate, where help should be on the way, North Carolina’s Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis have not acted. Why don’t we hear their voices? Why aren’t they demanding action, a Senate bill, or even a vote on the plan the U.S. House delivered two months ago?”

After allowing federal unemployment payments to expire completely over the weekend, Senate Republicans yesterday proposed a massive $400 per week cut to those payments going forward. In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act, an aid package that would extend $600 unemployment payments through the end of the year.

Piedmont Rising Executive Director Casey Wilkinson made the following statement:

“The Senate GOP plan to slash unemployment payments by $400 is outrageous, and Tillis and Burr’s silence shows callous indifference towards the hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who are now wondering how they’re going to pay for rent, health care costs, or food. Instead of wasting more time on Washington games, Tillis and Burr must speak up and demand the Senate vote for an immediate full extension of unemployment payments. Lives in North Carolina depend on it.”

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