Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders and Minnesota Democratic Congressmember Ilhan Omar have joined more than 300 lawmakers around the world calling for the cancellation of poor nations’ debts as they struggle with the COVID-19 crisis. This comes as the United Nations warns as many as a half a billion people could fall into poverty due to the pandemic.

In a letter to the leadership of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Tuesday, Senator Sanders writes, “In the face of a horrific pandemic and a worldwide recession, we cannot allow poor countries to dedicate money that should be going towards protecting the health and safety of their people to pay off unsustainable debts. We cannot allow these countries to be deprived of the resources they need to purchase food, medicine, protective gear, and medical equipment.”