WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott wrote an op-ed for Fox Business outlining why U.S. taxpayer dollars should not be used to bail out large corporations that have enjoyed years of growth and prosperity, and what steps the federal government should take instead to support Americans affected by the Coronavirus, especially small businesses, hourly workers and individuals whose livelihoods depend on tips.

Senator Scott is recommending the following steps:

• First, significantly increase federal assistance to state Unemployment Insurance programs, and change the corresponding regulations to allow states the ability to open the fund for workers to immediately access if they are out of work, temporarily out of work, or have reduced hours. Senator Scott believes this is the quickest, most effective, and most fiscally responsible way to get money to the people who need it most.

• Second, impose a 60-day moratorium on mortgages, rent, fees and utilities for both individuals making less than $75,000 a year and small businesses with less than 250 employees. Those payments would be postponed and paid out over the following 12 months.

Senator Scott is also urging every level of government to immediately take the following steps to keep families safe from the Coronavirus:

• Establish mobile testing sites in every county in the country by the end of the week. Testing is the number one priority – period.

• Shut down our borders to all foreign travel, and do it NOW.

• Governors, who are best-equipped to understand the needs of their states, need to take decisive action to enforce aggressive social distancing. These enforcements should be done on the state and local level, but they should be done NOW. Governors must not take the view that it’s the federal government’s responsibility to keep their people safe.

• Protect the supply chains for vital protective gear for our health care workers and first responders. Senator Scott has called for Attorneys General across the country to crack down on price gouging.

Read more in Senator Scott’s Fox Business op-ed HERE.

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