A bipartisan group of 20 House lawmakers are calling on congressional leaders to improve the diversity of a coronavirus relief oversight panel to address the recession’s unique toll on minorities and women, The Hill reported. In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the group urged Congress to take up measures to expand and refocus the Congressional Oversight Commission created through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. “The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted women and racially diverse communities,” the lawmakers wrote, urging Pelosi and McConnell to foster “a greater focus on the disparate impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in diverse communities.” The CARES Act created a five-person bipartisan commission to oversee how the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department used $500 billion allocated by the bill for emergency lending and grant programs for businesses and municipalities. But the bipartisan group of 19 House Democrats and one Republican is urging Pelosi and McConnell to advance a bill to add more members to the panel and broaden its focus. The coronavirus-driven recession forced thousands of businesses across the U.S to close and lay off millions of workers in the quickest, steepest economic downturn since the Great Recession. The pandemic has taken an even greater toll on people of color and businesses owned by women and minorities, which typically hold smaller financial cushions and lack reliable access to credit.
