November 7, 2020
Dear Friends,
Like so many of you, I have been glued to the television these past few days waiting on results of this historic election. The wait has not been easy for any of us but I thank you for your patience and continued faith in our electoral process.
While we waited for the ballot counts, we were reminded of what is at stake in this election as our nation reached its highest mark yet in new COVID-19 cases, now surpassing 120,000 daily cases with surging deaths and hospitalizations.
No question we have work to do, and I am eager to get back to it. We need to act quickly as a nation to support our teachers, firefighters, police officers, first responders, sanitation workers, healthcare professionals and other essential workers who are continuing to keep our nation going, and who are now in danger of losing their jobs.
We must support our nurses, doctors and hospitals as they fight on the frontlines to protect us.
We must help our small businesses, the heartbeat of our communities, that are delivering services to us despite the incredible difficulties they face.
We must make strides to address the longstanding barriers of oppression and injustice that pervade our institutions to this day.
We must unite in love, support and understanding with our neighbors who are calling for positive, lasting change so that our nation upholds its most venerated ideals of liberty and justice for all.
As I reflect on this challenging week and the hard road ahead, I also look to our future with hope. Because when it came down to it you showed up, turning out in record numbers, early, in person and by mail, to uphold our democracy. Your voice rang clear across the world with a message of unity over division, and truth over anything else. Your voices, and your votes, are the reason I remain hopeful.
For too long, our nation has succumbed to division and suspicion. But the ties that bind us together as a nation are ever stronger than any person who would seek to tear us apart.
As Vice President Biden said in his speech to the nation on Wednesday: “It’ll be time for us to do what we’ve always done as Americans, to put the harsh rhetoric of the campaign behind us, to lower the temperature, to see each other again, to listen to one another, to hear each other again, and respect and care for one another, to unite, to heal, to come together as a nation.”
We must come together if we hope to get to the other side of this COVID-19 crisis intact. We must let science and facts guide us in establishing a national plan for testing, tracing and treatment, and for rescuing our Main Street businesses and communities.
We face extraordinary obstacles. But together, I know that we can overcome them as we work to build a more perfect union. I believe wholeheartedly in the promise of America. I have faith in its future and its people. I hope you do too.
As always, thank you for reading.
Your friend,
DID YOU KNOW?
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, my office and I have worked to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates and recommendations on any and all COVID-19 related topics. With that in mind, here are a few recent developments that may be of interest to you:
- There is a new text scam created by thieves that trick people into disclosing bank account information under the guise of receiving the $1,200 Economic Impact Payment.
- Neither the IRS nor state agencies will ever text taxpayers asking for bank account information so that an EIP deposit may be made.
- The scam text message states: “You have received a direct deposit of $1,200 from COVID-19 TREAS FUND. Further action is required to accept this payment into your account. Continue here to accept this payment …” The text includes a link to a fake phishing web address.
- This fake phishing URL, which appears to come from a state agency or relief organization, takes recipients to a fraudulent website that impersonates the IRS.gov Get My Payment website. Individuals who visit the fraudulent website and then enter their personal and financial account information will have their information collected by these scammers.
- People who receive this text scam should take a screen shot of the text message that they received and then include the screenshot in an email to phishing@irs.gov with the following information:
- Date/Time/Timezone that they received the text message
- The number that appeared on their Caller ID
- The number that received the text message
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