My Office Remains Committed to Serving the Community During These Difficult Times

Dear Friends,

As our world seems to change with the passing of each hour, I’d like to inform you of a few updates from my office.

This week, I announced that, in order to protect public health and address the spread of coronavirus, our offices will close temporarily to the public. This applies to the Washington, D.C. office as well as the District offices in Albany, Amsterdam and Schenectady. While our physical office locations are temporarily closed, my staff and I remain committed to continuing to serve our Capital Region.

Staff members are working remotely and will continue to address any needs you have, from federal casework issues, meeting requests (which will be conducted via telephone), legislative suggestions and more.

Phone lines for the DC office at (202) 225-5076 and Albany office at (518) 465-0700 remain available for constituents to contact staff, along with requests made through the website via Tonko.house.gov/contact. Calls will continue to be answered, messages returned and constituent correspondence responded to in the same timely manner.

During these extraordinary times, I urge everyone to treat this public health emergency with the seriousness it demands and adhere to the recommendations of CDC along with state and local officials. We must all continue to remain informed in order to protect our families and communities.

To that end, there are a number of updates I would like to share with you on the national level response to coronavirus.

• SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza has approved a statewide disaster declaration for NY. Eligible small businesses may now apply for SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) online at disasterloan.sba.gov/ela. Please review the attached fact sheet here with important information about the declaration and EIDL requirements.
• This week, the President signed H.R. 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act into law. This robust response provides free testing to all who need it, paid emergency leave, enhanced unemployment insurance, strengthened food security initiatives and more to address public health and the incredible economic burden of this crisis.  
  • Included in this law is a provision I authored that would guarantee adequate supply of critically needed N95 respirators for our healthcare workers on the frontline of the coronavirus outbreak.
    
• Amid ongoing conversations on the next supplemental package, I led my colleagues in a bipartisan letter to Speaker Pelosi urging mental health services to be addressed in the coronavirus response. During this time of incredible anxiety and fear, it is so essential that Americans have peace of mind knowing that their physical and mental health are addressed and protected.

I will continue to provide information through my social media channels in addition to updates to my webpage: Tonko.house.gov/coronavirus. Please reach out to my office with any questions or concerns you have.