ICYMI: (VIDEO) Rep. Cisneros on ABC7 Discusses COVID Relief Bill, Child Care Bill, and School Reopening
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FULLERTON, CA - Yesterday, Representative Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr. (CA-39) went on ABC7 (KABC) with Marc Brown and Michelle Tuzee to talk about the Senate’s recent coronavirus relief bill, his child care provider bill, and school reopening.
When asked about what should be in a negotiated coronavirus relief bill, Rep. Cisneros stated, “We passed the HEROES act over two months ago. It’s very unfortunate the Republicans waited so long to come out with their own version of a bill. This bill falls way short. There is no rent relief. They’re taking away money from those that are unemployed right now… And me, something that I’ve been working on very hard is money for our cities. Not having the resources right now, not being able to collect taxes. And that’s going to put our public safety in jeopardy. [The Senate bill] doesn’t provide any funding for local cities or municipalities, so they need to come up with a better plan than this.”
Later in the interview when asked about his bipartisan bill to provide relief to child care providers, Rep. Cisneros said, “We introduced this bill with my friend Don Bacon, a Republican...91% of these child care centers are saying they are facing extra costs, being able to sanitize, which is needed right, to sanitize their facilities at the end of the day. This bill would help provide that relief…[W]e know how important child care is right now. It’s important even before the pandemic...It’s going to be encompassed into a larger child care bill. We are very excited about that because it is needed right now. These child care centers need this extra resource so that they can make sure their places are sanitized and safe for all the children that are there.”
Finally, when asked about his thoughts about school reopening, Rep. Cisneros stated, “So, I know it’s a tough decision, but health and safety has to be first. We need to make sure that we take steps that our schools, that when they do open, that they’re going to be able to social distance, that they’re going to have to wear masks. That we’re going to need to provide for more teachers so we can have smaller classroom sizes. These are the steps that we’re going to need to take in order to make sure that schools can open safely. But I stand by with the Governor right now. We need to make sure that we have these things in place, make sure we get this virus under control before we start sending our kids to school and putting them in jeopardy as well as all the adults that work at the school.”