Earlier this week, the Department of the Treasury released its requests to Congress for the third-phase of COVID-19 response legislation. This request includes $500 billion in direct payments to Americans, $300 billion in loans to small businesses, $150 billion to distressed industries, and $50 billion to the airline industry. Add it all up, and we’re looking at a $1 trillion package to address COVID-19, in addition to the roughly $110 billion that Congress has already spent in response to the pandemic.

The state of the economy is on everyone’s mind due to the COVID-19 and the more frequent practice of social distancing. People are staying at home due to the virus, which will have a negative impact on consumption. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the administration is “looking at sending checks to Americans immediately.” The idea is similar in approach to proposals from Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

Amidst the pressing need for congressional action on Coronavirus and the expiring provisions of the USA FREEDOM Act, an important report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) seems to have been lost in the noise. The statements of Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro before the Senate Budget Committee presented a damning view of the nation’s fiscal health. Over the course of the hour-long hearing, Dodaro painted a bleak picture of our “unsustainable long-term fiscal path.”

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to support the Earmark Elimination Act, H.R. 6211. Introduced by Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.), this bill would make permanent the temporary moratorium on congressional earmarks put into effect in 2010 by creating a point of order against any provision within a bill that matches the definition of an earmark, and when raised would be stricken absent a two-thirds majority to override.