Point of View: Oklahoma families cannot wait any longer for relief

Normally, my extended family gathers to celebrate Christmas together. This year, I will stay home. There will be nothing to celebrate. Along with more than 75,000 Oklahomans relying on unemployment benefits, I face losing my last financial lifeline the day after Christmas.

Before the pandemic, I worked as a housekeeper for Spirit Aerospace. In addition to supporting myself, I live with my son and grandson. When my son was 16, he was walking to the store when a bullet that wasn’t intended for him lodged in his spinal cord. He has been paralyzed ever since. I have been raising his son, my grandbaby, since he was two days old. I also care for my aging mother, who lives nearby. I was balancing my job and caregiving with studying to become a phlebotomist. I was eager for a new career that would better support the people who depend on me.

Then the pandemic crashed down on us. I was laid off from my job in March. Luckily, Congress passed the CARES Act that month, which, along with the $1,200 stimulus checks everyone received, authorized a $600 weekly pandemic unemployment compensation to supplement inadequate state unemployment insurance benefits. The $600 kept us going during this spring and summer. Economists estimate that it kept 13 million people out of poverty. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell let the $600 supplement expire at the end of July. That’s when my bills started to pile up.

My son’s paraplegic condition makes him very vulnerable to COVID. This summer he was hospitalized with a blood infection. A job with public contact would expose my son to COVID, which he wouldn’t survive. I have been searching for work-from-home jobs, but many have turned out to be scams. I’m an excellent cook and have started a small catering business, but it requires an investment in equipment to scale it up to support my household.

We’re relying on pandemic emergency unemployment compensation (PEUC), a CARES Act program that provides additional weeks of benefits. My son’s disability insurance is $750 per month, and it all goes to cover rent. I receive just $158 weekly in PEUC, which has to stretch to cover groceries, health care, utilities and other necessities. I have applied for rental assistance but haven’t received any yet. We are always behind on bills.

Now, even that tiny income is about to vanish. On Dec. 26, the PEUC program will expire. Unless Congress acts, 104,000 Oklahomans relying on unemployment benefits will enter the new year with no income at all.

Recently, a bipartisan group of senators proposed a COVID relief package that would extend benefits for people like me until April. Democratic leaders will work with the bipartisan group to deliver relief to families in urgent need. But Oklahoma Sens. James Lankford and Jim Inhofe apparently aren’t interested in finding solutions for families like mine. They support McConnell’s bill, which would bail out corporations and companies.

We can’t wait any longer. My family and thousands of others risk homelessness during a deadly pandemic. This holiday season, 26 million people in the richest nation on earth don’t have enough to eat, including more than 594,000 Oklahomans. We need Sens. Lankford and Inhofe to stand up to Mitch McConnell and put Oklahomans first.

Colbert lives in Tulsa.