IL Rep. Recognizes Chicago Union Worker Aided By Rescue Plan

OAK LAWN, IL — Marie Newman, an Illinois member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was joined virtually by a member of a local hospitality workers union to watch President Biden's upcoming address to a joint session of congress.

Jesús Morales, a member of UNITE HERE Local 1 in Chicago, joined the congresswoman Wednesday evening to watch the address, during which Biden addressed the American Rescue Plan.

In a news release, Newman said Morales benefitted from the rescue plan after losing his job to the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.

After working for 33 years as a server at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, Morales was laid off last March. Without work, Morales had to give up his health care plan, leaving the man and his wife struggling to pay for daily medication his wife relies on, Newman said.

“Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, workers like Jesús are now able to stay on their employer health plans at no cost through the end of September," Newman said in a statement. "Our union workers have given everything to our city and country, and it’s time we honor them in return. That is why I’m proud to honor Jesús this week as my virtual guest to President Biden’s Address to a Joint Session of Congress."

Newman was among the congressional representatives who voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan last month.

"Without work and without relief from their government, these workers struggled between paying their families’ urgently needed medicine and putting food on the table,” the congresswoman said. "We will not stop fighting to ensure our workers and struggling families are receiving the relief they need to survive this pandemic.”

Morales said the rescue plan let him and his wife once again obtain health insurance through COBRA.

“On behalf of myself, my family and thousands of hospitality workers in Chicago, I want to thank Congresswoman Newman and President Biden for listening to us and fighting for us,” Morales said in a statement.

During his Wednesday night address, the president also addressed both the already-passed American Rescue Plan and the American Families Plan, a recent proposal that funds child care and education by taxing wealthy Americans, NPR reports.

Biden also touched on his $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal.