The COVID Relief NOW Coalition Calls on Congress to Act

The COVID Relief NOW Coalition, a coalition of more than 300 major public and private sector groups, recently released a new ad, "Economic Relief Can't Wait," imploring Congress to pass additional COVID economic relief during the current lame duck session.

The ad is running across digital platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Google, connected TVs and other online sites.

"Bottom line: the travel and tourism sector is projected to lose 4.5 million jobs by the end of the year, and the longer Washington waits to act on another relief round, more of those will be gone permanently," said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow, whose organization co-founded COVID Relief NOW. "Lost travel jobs are not red or blue—they're in every congressional district in every corner of the country. It should not be a big political Rubik's cube for the two parties to come together and get this done."

In a recent letter sent to Congress, the coalition highlighted the millions of jobs, small businesses, and vital government services that are on the line. The letter stated:

"If Congress fails to act, millions of employees will be furloughed or terminated; millions of unemployed Americans will lose their unemployment insurance pandemic benefits; hundreds of thousands of companies will be at risk of closing their doors forever; and the vast majority of state and local governments will have to curtail critical services in order to balance budgets due to a decline in tax revenue."

View the video below:

Steering committee members for the coalition include: American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), International Franchise Association, National Association of Counties (NAC), National Conference for State Legislatures (NCSL), National Governors Association (NGA), National League of Cities, National Restaurant Association, National Retail Federation, U.S. Conference of Mayors, U.S. Travel Association, Society of Independent Show Organizers, International Council of Shopping Centers, Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), American Gaming Association, American Apparel & Footwear Association, Small Business Entrepreneurship (SBE) Council, and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and Go LIVE Together.

Courtesy of Groups Today.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Travel Association.