Business
Wisconsin residents call for federal COVID relief
The House could vote Friday on a nearly $2 trillion COVID relief package.
That bill probably will not include an increase in the minimum wage, following a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian, but some Wisconsin residents are calling on Senator Ron Johnson to support the bill.
Amy Midle runs a deejay company in Madison, and she she had a direct message for Johnson during a Facebook forum Thursday night.
“Stop it. Stop thinking about your income, stop thinking about your savings account,” said Midle, “and start thinking about what other people are going through. Listen to us, hear our stories.”
Midle joined other state residents, including former La Crosse County board chair Tara Johnson, in a discussion of the COVID bill, sponsored by the group Opportunity Wisconsin.
Another speaker, Selika Duckworth-Lawson, is a professor at UW-Eau Claire whose husband has been laid off for weeks during the pandemic.
She says families are having to decide whether to pay for food, gas, or other needs.
“I know people who needed three jobs in order to be able to pay for all their living expenses,” said Duckworth-Lawson. “They lost one of them, but because they were part-time jobs, they can’t get relief.”