Members of the House of Representatives are expected to vote Thursday on an emergency $2.2 trillion relief bill to mitigate the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Congressman Joe Kennedy III, who represents Massachusetts' 4th congressional district, told Boston Public Radio ahead of the vote the economic recovery bill that passed the senate earlier this week doesn't go far enough for everyday people.
"The big picture assessment is, this isn't the bill I would have written, this isn't the bill house Democrats would have written, it's a bill written by Mitch McConnell and Secretary Mnuchin and the Republican administration, that Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi and the heads of our committee here did an awful lot of work to make an awful lot better," he said. "But do I think it's specifically targeted to address the crisis we're confronting in the most efficient and effective way possible? No."
Kennedy noted that even if the recovery package were to be his ideal version, the Trump administration still needs to step up and do more from the executive side to properly respond to the pandemic.
"You've got healthcare workers that are sick and dying because they don't have masks as they try to care for us, and the federal government is still not executing all the possible levers to make sure people are protected," he said. "It's unconscionable, yet that is where we are."
Congressman Kennedy also called for a nationwide "shelter-in-place" order to be implemented.
