Patrick Semansky, File via AP, Evan Vucci/AP
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told MSNBC that President Donald Trump walking away from stimulus negotiations would mean the US will be "staring down the barrel" of one of the largest eviction crises ever.
- "We're looking at a potential second wave that could be catastrophic," the Democrat said after Trump abruptly ended stimulus discussions on Tuesday. "We are looking at the potential of hunger in the United States exploding on a level that we have never seen since the Great Depression."
- After Trump first told his team to end talks on another COVID-19 relief bill until after the election, he appeared to change direction and urged lawmakers to approve $1,200 direct payments and small business aid.
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Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told MSNBC on Tuesday that if President Trump walks away from passing a new stimulus package, the US economy will be "staring down the barrel" of one of the largest mass evictions in American history since the Great Depression.
On top of the US already going through severe fallout, both in terms of public health and the economy, Ocasio-Cortez said 30 to 40 million people are at risk of getting evicted just because the president chose to "walk away from every working person" in the country.
"We're looking at a potential second wave that could be catastrophic," she told TV host Rachel Maddow. "We are looking at the potential of hunger in the United States exploding on a level that we have never seen since the Great Depression."
Ocasio-Cortez, seen as an influential progressive, highlighted that nine zip codes within her home base in New York, which has some of the strictest COVID-19 guidelines and mask adherence, are at risk of being totally, or partially, shut down due to a secondary wave of cases.
Mass evictions and hunger could be prevented if a second stimulus check is ratified, the 30-year-old said.
"We need to make sure that we get state and local funding so that municipal governments can stay above the water at least until the end of the year," she said. "We need to make sure we're funding large-scale testing and tracing programs, and we need to make sure that we're really developing a vaccine responsibly and not pushing one out for the sake of an election."
After Trump first signalled an end to stimulus negotiations until after the election on Tuesday, prompting a swift drop on the stock markets, he urged lawmakers to approve $1,200 stimulus checks for American taxpayers, small business aid, and direct assistance to airlines to prevent layoffs.
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