“As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on America, Congress has passed three bills to help the country weather the slowdown in economic activity due to necessary stay-at-home orders. But while these packages included help for individuals, small businesses and state and local governments, the provisions for rural America are sorely lacking,” write Democrat Tom Daschle and Stacey Abrams in an op-ed published in today’s USA Today.
Daschle is a former U.S. Senate majority leader and founder and CEO of The Daschle Group. Stacey Abrams, is a former Democratic leader of the Georgia House of Representatives. They note, “In rural areas in the South, a large portion of the population is African American — including Albany, Georgia, which per capita has the fourth highest rate of COVID-19 cases in the United States. Data shows that African Americans are particularly susceptible to severe complications from the virus due to long standing structural inequities. This is especially troubling because of the number of hospital closures in this region and because half of the 14 states that have yet to expand Medicaid are in the Southeast.”
To view the full text of the op-ed please visit this link.