Illinois families need monthly cash payments to weather COVID-19 crisis

Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, nearly one million Illinois residents have filed for unemployment benefits — more than one of every 10 Illinois workers.

We know that those numbers are only a fraction of the families that have been impacted by the virus. Many more are losing income, having hours reduced, getting sick or being forced to choose between getting sick and getting a paycheck.

Magdalena Zylinska, a single mother who works cleaning houses in Chicago, has to choose between continuing to work and put food on the table or staying home to keep her 12-year-old son safe. “I can’t even sleep at night, to figure out which bills to pay or not pay,” she says.

First-generation college student Arica Kincheloe lost the jobs that she relied on to pay her tuition at the University of Chicago. While many schools have shifted to online classes, students remain burdened with the same tuition costs that many of them already struggled to pay.

At the end of March, Congress passed the CARES Act, providing for a $1,200 stimulus payment to most Americans. It is clear that this one-time stimulus is not enough to meet Americans’ needs. We must establish monthly payments and we must increase the amount of money received to help people like Magdalena and Arica make ends meet for the length of the COVID-19 crisis.

The economic impact of the crisis have been especially bad for people of color who are disproportionately risking their lives in jobs that cannot be done remotely. More than half of African Americans under 45 have lost their jobs or seen a reduction in work and wages since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Young people, early in their careers and often lacking seniority and the job protections of earlier generations, also are severely affected.

While the new unemployment benefits Congress passed in the first CARES Act are beginning to give millions of people a needed financial boost, we must do more to help Illinois families.

Even before the current pandemic, 40% of Americans were one missed paycheck away from disaster. No one should ever be one crisis away from poverty, but for a large percentage of American families, that is the reality. We are seeing the impact of this economic vulnerability play out over and over again as our nation struggles through these challenging times.

The fastest and most effective way to help the families in Illinois harmed by economic impacts of COVID-19 is with direct cash payments. Millions of people in Illinois have already received their one-time $1,200 CARES Act stimulus check. For many, this stimulus is a lifeline, allowing residents to pay bills that they’ve lost sleep over or to purchase groceries, replenishing cabinets that were looking increasingly bare. $1,200 is a good start, but it’s not nearly enough. The average rent for an apartment in Chicago is nearly $2,000 per month. The $1,200 stimulus wouldn’t even cover one month of rent for most families.

We need bigger, bolder policies to help people — recurring payments that last until the economy recovers and it is safe to return to work. My colleagues and I are pushing for legislation that would establish payments of $2,000 a month for adults and $1,000 for children. These payments would include college students and other adult dependents, and families with one or more members who file taxes using an Individual Tax Identification Number.

We know that the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will be felt for years to come. Many are predicting the crisis will last well into 2021, or beyond. Now is not the time for timid solutions. We must take the steps necessary to not only keep our small businesses afloat, but also to keep our families afloat.

Direct payments are an essential tool to help families solve their own problems and to provide resiliency and stability. In the next relief bill, we must step up and ensure that there are no more one-time, Band-Aid solutions for families. Let’s make sure that Illinois families receive monthly payments to give them the financial security they need to ride out this crisis.

Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat, has represented Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, covering parts of Chicago’s North Side and suburbs, since 1999.

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