Stay Sane(Itized): April 2020

Hey Teen Resisters!

Happy a few days late Earth Day, and we hope more than anything that you and your families are all staying healthy and safe. This is an absolutely unprecedented time, and right now we say: stay sane — watch a trashy show, take care of yourself (by exercising, sleeping, doing something, or doing nothing), and don't lose hope. Unity is vital right now, even when we're separate! So is forgiving yourself!
We've included a statement on Biden below, linked our last list/some general action items, and then covered some COVID-19 news. It's often difficult to even open the news right now, so this is something good to read if you just want a couple of bite-sized pieces of important info.

Peace & Power,
​TR

Our Statement on Biden: 2020 Election, Moving Forward​
One of the biggest things to happen in the past few weeks outside of the coronavirus news cycle was the news that Senator Bernie Sanders was dropping out of the race for president. This now leaves the Democratic party with an assumed candidate for 2020: Vice President Joe Biden. This primary started out with a record number of candidates with a variety of different backgrounds, and there are plenty of people, especially young people, that are not happy with Biden as the nominee. There are some people who are thrilled. 

Joe Biden hasn’t supported bolder and more progressive solutions to problems in this country that (generally) a lot of people in our generation support, and that we’ve supported in the past. That being said, as the past few months have shown us, we now more than ever need a president who has experience, knowledge, and basic common sense, all of which our current president (and Biden’s opponent) is deeply lacking in.

Not only are we voting for a president, we’re voting for a cabinet, Supreme Court nominees, a huge number of federal judges, and a whole new administration. This election is also wildly important in other races besides the presidential one.

All of this is to say that we will be launching our previously planned 2020 youth-mobilizing programs in favor of Joe Biden and his campaign as well as for tons of other progressives around the country who we want to see be elected (just like we did with the midterms!). We also plan (and hope you do too) to hold Biden to high standards and push him on issues and policies we care about — whatever they may be — both during the campaign and hopefully once he is in the White House.

**Before we dive in: What can you do re: COVID-19, in general? We outlined a ton of feasible and impactful actions in our last list — including how to find places or sites to volunteer, places to donate to, how to stay updated, and how to stay busy. Check it out here: Quaranteens Resist. And here’s the link for places to get aid from, if you need a quick reference.**

what went down

Trump Suspends WHO Funding
On April 14, President Trump announced that he will be suspending payments to the World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations agency, in response to its handling of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The president has been critical in recent months of the WHO’s unwillingness to hold China accountable for its role in the virus’ spread, echoing concerns of other countries’ leaders: Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso proposed in March that the WHO change its name to the “Chinese Health Agency.” 

​This anti-WHO and anti-UN rhetoric among Republican politicians is not an isolated incident, however, and reflects decades of policies with the same sentiment: the US pays far too much towards the UN operating budget in comparison to other countries. ​

​​The US’ annual contribution to the UN, totalling around $10 billion, makes up about 20% of the organization’s budget; this is more than twice that of the second largest contributor, Japan, which provides some 9.7% of the organization’s funds.

At the same time, contributions by the US are small in comparison to the size of its economy, making only a 0.26% dent in the overall federal budget. (Consider this in comparison to US annual military spending, which this year will exceed $934 billion.) And these contributions have a hugely positive impact on the world, funding vaccines and food for impoverished children through UNICEF, peacekeeping operations through the DPO, the protection of tens of millions of refugees through the UNHCR, and of course health services around the world through the WHO.

While there may be issues with the scale of funds provided by the US to the UN and WHO, the cessation of financial support in the midst of the largest public health crisis in a century is counterproductive at best. Certainly, the WHO is biased towards the Chinese government and significant changes need to be made (take the incident on March 30, when one of its Director-Generals, Bruce Aylward, refused to acknowledge the presence of Taiwan in an interview with Hong Kong journalist Yvonne Tong), but the time for these changes is when this pandemic ends. Recognizing this, many countries, among them the UK, China, New Zealand, France, Russia, and Germany, have spoken out in support of the WHO and pledged to maintain their own funding.

Mail-In Voting 
With COVID-19 affecting our society and nearly every aspect of daily life, elections are also being impacted. There is a lot of debate around how local, state and presidential elections will occur in November, considering how dangerous it could be amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Despite these concerns, Wisconsin held their presidential primary as scheduled on April 7, which resulted in tens of thousands of voters showing up to a reduced amount of polling places across the state, risking their lives to participate in a basic part of democracy. To assure that this doesn’t happen again, many legislators have been advocating for mail-in voting in November; regardless of commonly voiced concerns about the logistical feasibility and personnel challenges of the system, it seems to be one of the only ways forward amid the current COVID-19 situation. 

President Trump included 400 million dollars in the recent stimulus package for states to use for election purposes. However, the bill didn’t specify any requirements for how the funding had to be used, and some legislators and advocates don’t think this is sufficient. Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) recently introduced the VoteSafe Act, a bill that would require every state to allow mail-in voting, without having to provide an excuse. This means that in states where mail-in voters have to provide a reason for why they aren’t voting on Election Day, this would no longer be required and anyone could vote by mail. Harris’ bill would also mandate that all states have at least 20 days prior to the election on November 3, when people can choose to vote early in-person. According to The Hill, Senator Harris introduced the VoteSafe Act to “ensure that voting is safe and accessible” for everyone, especially in the face of the current pandemic. 

A few things that you can do:

• Call your U.S. Representative and Senators and tell them to support the VoteSafeAct
• Support local mail-in voting efforts in your area to keep everyone safe during elections
• Share information on social media about the importance of mail-in voting and what it is to make sure that your friends and family are informed come November

Stimulus Checks: What are they?
What is the COVID-19 stimulus check? Issued as a part of the coronavirus relief package, eligible US residents can receive up to $1,200 from the federal government. Citizens who receive the stimulus are not required to pay taxes on the payment and the money would not be an advance on tax refunds. The amount that residents will get depends on their total income in 2018 or 2019. To find out if you or your family is eligible click here: (https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/coronavirus-stimulus-checks-going-out-now-find-out-if-youre-eligible-for-up-to-1200/) 

What’s going on:
As of April 16th, 2020, millions of Americans did not receive the COVID-19 stimulus checks promised to them by the federal government. U.S Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had instructed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to deliver the payments as timely as possible to address the devastating effects of the coronavirus on working opportunities. Instead, millions of Americans who had filed their taxes through services like TurboTax did not receive their check when guaranteed as the IRS reportedly did not “have their direct deposit information on file”. According to consumer law expert Vijay Raghavan, up to 21 million tax filers could be impacted by this mistake.

To try to restore order, the IRS launched the “Get My Payment” service to aid people in tracking their stimulus payment. This seems to have had little to no effect, as many users are experiencing issues and confusion with the software. Similar problems are occurring with the IRS website itself, as the service locks people out who try to access their information many times throughout the day to avoid potential fraud.

The Washington Post also reports that a number of people are receiving the incorrect payment amount for dependent children. The Post also reports that people who owe $0 in taxes are having issues checking their payment status. The IRS’s condition is only made worse by the fact that there have also been reports circulating about stimulus checks sent to the addresses of deceased people. The IRS says they are aware of the many issues made apparent by the stimulus payments and are currently working to resolve them.

Go to the IRS website to get your payment or check the status of processing payments nationwide.

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​And, finally....

Puppy vid!!