D14 Virtual Town Hall with Senator Chris Van Hollen

Our District 14 Virtual Town Hall with US Senator Van Hollen was an excellent conversation about the new American Rescue Plan that was just passed by Congress and signed by President Biden. We also talked about justice against the January 6th Insurrection, the US Mail, infrastructure funding and more. click here for the video.

The American Rescue Plan has several parts to it, including $600 million for Baltimore to use as needed for COVID recovery, more rental assistance, aid for businesses, vaccine distribution, and more. I asked about equity in vaccine distribution and he responded that there is language in the bill requiring equitable vaccine distribution.

We also talked about the US Mail. The President can’t just fire current director DeJoy who was placed there by the previous administration. Congress has to nominate and confirm new Commissioners to the US postal board, who then will appoint a new Director. It is a time consuming process that unfortunately won’t be fixed overnight, but they are working on it. Also, Senator Van Hollen explained that the scanners being removed during the election have not been replaced, and so holiday mail was delayed along with workers getting COVID and so the US mail is hiring.

Senator Van Hollen said that new Attorney General Merrick Garland might appoint a special prosecutor or commission to address the insurrection to ensure there is justice, since the Senate was unable to impeach Trump a second time.