McGrath: McConnell Holds Up Aid for Families and Workers To Give Protections for Big Corporations

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Since Sen. Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that no bill would appear on the Senate floor that did not include liability reform—which would allow big corporations to put Kentucky workers at risk during this pandemic without fear of reprisal—legislative negotiations have stalled as the federal unemployment support that millions of families are depending on is on the verge of ending. Retired Marine Lt. Col. Amy McGrath, who is running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, called on McConnell to stop holding aid for American families and the legislative process hostage. 

“Mitch McConnell, time and again, has prevented the Senate, the once greatest deliberative body in the world, from doing its job,” McGrath said. “Now, during a pandemic, he is holding up aid for families in his push to ensure big corporations can jeopardize workers’ well-being without concern.”  

McGrath said McConnell’s insistence on weakening liability standards so that employers could be “grossly negligent” would lead to more workers becoming sick, especially since the Senate refuses to set workplace standards that employers must follow to protect workers during the pandemic.

“Mitch McConnell has attacked and undermined working Kentuckians every chance he has had throughout his career,” McGrath said. “ Just like he showed no concern for coal workers as companies put their lives at risk, he has released a bill that, if signed into law as it is, could endanger the health of workers across Kentucky.”

McGrath said the fact that McConnell wanted such sweeping changes to corporate liability while doing nothing to support states’ efforts to run safe, secure elections during the pandemic captures McConnell’s values.

“Mitch has always cared more about big money than about Kentucky,” she said. “It’s how he’s stayed in power all these years, and now he’s making that same choice again as people’s lives and livelihoods, as well as their ability to vote safely and easily, depend on action. He’s abandoned Kentucky time-and-again to help out Wall Street and special interests. This is no different.”

McGrath previously has called for this next set of legislation to include federal aid for state and local government, a continuation of the $600 benefit for unemployment insurance, and more funding for test-and-trace than the HEALS Act provides. She also criticized McConnell for not doing enough to help schools make informed decisions about whether to re-open. 

Her full plan for addressing the fall out from the coronavirus can be found here.