US Rep. Debbie Dingell talks stimulus checks, safety precautions in re-starting economy
FOX 2 - Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) joined FOX 2 to talk about stimulus payments and the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
FOX 2: "There are many people contacting us saying they still haven't gotten their payment. What do you tell them?"
Dingell: "We're trying to help people get their stimulus checks as quickly as possible. Each person almost has an individual case. It depends on how they filed their previous tax returns, and we know unfortunately, that some of these checks have been stolen. So what we're trying to do in our office is, there is a portal that people can go in and look at the status and we ask you to do that. Go to my (webpage) or almost any member of congresses' website and they've get those links for you. And then if you're still having problems, call the office of whoever your member of Congress is and we are doing individual casework, case by case, trying to help people because we know how important this is.
FOX 2: "You're on a caucus and you talked about how to re-open there should be a checklist how to re-open the state of Michigan. Talk about the checklist and the considerations that all of you are talking about at the federal level."
Dingell: "The first thing is to always ensure that the public's health and safety. Rory Gamble, the president of the UAW told me this story this week, it's one we can all read. But it's a reminder that after the flu of 1917, the pandemic, the Spanish Flu. Philadelphia held a parade with 100,000 people to celebrate the flu being gone. And within 48 hours, 4,500 people were hospitalized. So, we have to do this right.
"We have to make sure that people are safe and healthy and we'll all have to change some things we're used to doing. I don't think we'll going to shake hands, maybe ever again, and maybe we shouldn't ever shake hands again. We'll have to get used to having our temperature taken when we go into places of work, but in restaurants and grocery stores and department stores. But we also know that it's a good screener, it's a good filter. One test. But we also know that people can be asymptomatic and still contagious.
"I think we'll be wearing masks for a while. I think each of us needs to - I don't want to intrude on anybody's liberties. Those matter greatly, but we also have a responsibility to community. We're part of the community. So how do we keep the community safe? But at the same time restart and that's the discussion we're starting to have now."
