Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste

[AFTiger 282]

Here are the points on which Democrats blew up the emergency relief bill:

As previously reported, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came back to Washington D.C. last night after a week long recess and blew up days of emergency relief work done by the Senate. She wants to write her own far left bill and now we know what will be in it.

According to a source close to the process on Capitol Hill, in order to move forward with any kind of relief package, Pelosi and her far-left Democrat caucus will demand the following be included:

-Publication of corporate pay statistics by race and race statistics for all corporate boards

-A bail out on all current debt at the Postal Service

-Required early voting

-Required same day voter registration

-Provisions on official time for union collective bargaining

-Full offset of airline emissions by 2025

-Publication and reporting of greenhouse gas statistics for individual flights

-Retirement plans for community newspaper employees

-Federal $15 minimum wage

-Permanent paid leave

https://tinyurl.com/tm97loe

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

1) McConnell was an idiot for not sitting down with Democratic leadership from the beginning when crafting this legislation.  He actually tried to argue that Republicans proposing a bill was the fastest way to get it done, despite knowing he would need the OK of a Democratic house.

2) You left out some key points, including the argument of who should be the beneficiary of bailout money.

 

[AFTiger 282]

Nothing justifies the actions by the Dems.  The bill was put together in a bi-partisan fashion.

Introduced in Senate (03/19/2020)

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or the CARES Act

This bill addresses economic impacts of, and otherwise responds to, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak.

The bill authorizes emergency loans to distressed businesses, including air carriers, and suspends certain aviation excise taxes.

With respect to small businesses, the bill

• establishes, and provides funding for, forgivable bridge loans; and
• provides additional funding for grants and technical assistance.

The bill also provides funding for $1,200 tax rebates to individuals, with additional $500 payments per qualifying child. The rebate begins phasing out when incomes exceed $75,000 (or $150,000 for joint filers).

The bill establishes limits on requirements for employers to provide paid leave.

With respect to taxes, the bill

• establishes special rules for certain tax-favored withdrawals from retirement plans;
• delays due dates for employer payroll taxes and estimated tax payments for corporations; and
• revises other provisions, including those related to losses, charitable deductions, and business interest.

With respect to health care, the bill

• provides additional funding for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19;
• limits liability for volunteer health care professionals;
• prioritizes Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review of certain drugs;
• allows emergency use of certain diagnostic tests that are not approved by the FDA;
• expands health-insurance coverage for diagnostic testing and requires coverage for preventative services and vaccines;
• revises other provisions, including those regarding the medical supply chain, the national stockpile, the health care workforce, the Healthy Start program, telehealth services, nutrition services, Medicare, and Medicaid.

With respect to education, the bill

• temporarily suspends payments for federal student loans; and 
• otherwise revises provisions related to campus-based aid, supplemental educational-opportunity grants, federal work-study, subsidized loans, Pell grants, and foreign institutions.

The bill also authorizes the Department of the Treasury to temporarily guarantee money-market funds.

Read the bill.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3548/text

[homersapien 11,447]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/03/22/vast-coronavirus-stimulus-bill-limbo-crunch-times-arrives-capitol-hill/

(emphasis mine)

Senate Democrats blocked a massive coronavirus stimulus bill from moving forward Sunday as partisan disputes raged over the legislation aimed at arresting the economy’s precipitous decline.

Lawmakers had hoped to pass the enormous $1.8 trillion bill by Monday, but Sunday night they were scrambling to revive talks, with the stock market poised for another sharp drop and households and businesses fretting about an uncertain future.

Negotiations continued even as the initial procedural vote fell short; 47 senators voted in favor and 47 were opposed. The tally was well short of the 60 votes needed to move forward. The number of “aye” votes was especially low because five Republicans are quarantined over coronavirus fears.

Although senators of both parties and Trump administration officials vowed to continue negotiating — around the clock if necessary — the failed vote was the latest negative signal about Congress’s ability to come together around the legislation, which aims to inject close to $1.8 trillion into businesses and households. Policymakers are scrambling to address a spike in layoffs and businesses gasping for assistance as millions of Americans stay home to avoid contagion.

Ever since Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced the legislation Thursday night, senators have missed one self-imposed deadline after another to reach a deal. The vote Sunday evening was delayed three hours so talks could continue after it became clear it would fail, but no resolution was reached, and it failed anyway. McConnell set another procedural vote for around 12:30 p.m. Monday and dared Democrats to block it.

“Right now, they’re not there,” President Trump said earlier in the day from the White House with the vote underway. “But I think that the Democrats want to get there. And I can tell you for a fact, the Republicans want to get there. And I don’t think anybody actually has a choice.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin played shuttle diplomacy all afternoon and night, exiting the Capitol just before midnight after his sixth face-to-face meeting with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) while expressing optimism. “I think we’re very close. The teams are going to work through the night. We’re going to regroup the principals in the morning,” Mnuchin told reporters.

While Schumer also struck an upbeat tone — saying he was “very hopeful” of a deal Monday morning — McConnell left the Capitol visibly angry and accusing Schumer of blowing up an emerging deal early Sunday.

If the sides do not reach a pact by the early afternoon, votes will unfold that are likely to be a replay of Sunday’s blocked path, except this time the U.S. financial markets will be open and trading.

The bill would seek to flood the economy with money in an effort to protect millions of jobs and businesses that appear to be on the brink. It would direct payments of $1,200 to most American adults and $500 to children. It would steer $350 billion toward small businesses to stem the tide of layoffs and push billions more toward hospitals and the unemployment insurance system. And it would create a massive $500 billion program for businesses, states and localities, with the direction and velocity of this loan program left mostly to the Treasury Department’s discretion. Few aspects of the legislation had any precedent to draw from in terms of their scale and speed.

Indeed, the sheer magnitude of the potential calamity kept lawmakers at the bargaining table as negotiators on both sides said they must deliver to slow the financial landslide that is disrupting millions of businesses and households by the day.

At the same time, McConnell said it was time for Democrats to “take ‘yes’ for an answer” and accept a bill that he said incorporated many of their ideas. Democrats, though, said McConnell’s bill is tilted too far in favor of corporations and doesn’t include much oversight for $500 billion in loans and guarantees that could go to firms selected by the Treasury Department.

Senate Democrats and Republicans spent Friday and Saturday negotiating over the legislation, with both sides saying they had made progress, until McConnell announced late Saturday he was moving forward on drafting a bill even though there was not yet a final deal. Each side quickly blamed the other for the breakdown.

After the vote failed, McConnell angrily lectured Democrats about the outcome. Republicans had hoped to move forward to final passage of the legislation on Monday, a goal that now looks improbable.

“The notion that we have time to play games here with the American economy and the American people is utterly absurd,” McConnell said. “The American people expect us to act tomorrow, and I want everybody to fully understand if we aren’t able to act tomorrow, it will be because of our colleagues on the other side continuing to dicker when the country expects us to come together.”

Schumer came to the floor a short time later to declare Republicans were the ones behaving unreasonably by trying to advance what he called a partisan bill. Democrats said despite some concessions on the part of Republicans, the GOP bill still had too many flaws and did not do enough to shore up the health-care system and help average Americans.

“Now, let me be clear: The majority leader was well aware of how this vote would go before it happened, but he chose to move forward with it anyway — even though negotiations are continuing, so who’s playing games?” Schumer asked. He then added a hopeful note: “Can we overcome the remaining disagreements in the next 24 hours? Yes. We can, and we should. The nation demands it.”

A major sticking point is a $500 billion pool of money for loans and loan guarantees that Republicans want to create, which some Democrats are labeling a “slush fund” because the Treasury Department would have broad discretion over who receives the money. There is little precedent for a program with a similar size and scope.

“They’re throwing caution to the wind for average workers and people on Main Street and going balls to the wall for people on Wall Street,” Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said of Republicans.

Trump himself seemed to acknowledge such concerns on the part of Democrats while insisting he did not want to offer bailouts.

“I don’t want to give a bailout to a company and then have somebody go out and use that money to buy back stock in the company and raise the price and then get a bonus,” Trump said. “So I may be Republican, but I don’t like that. I want them to use the money for the workers.”

The implications for the standoff became more dire as concerns about the economy intensify. Several senators spoke fearfully of the impact on the markets if they fail to reach agreement by Monday morning. Underscoring the spreading dangers, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday became the first senator to announce he had tested positive for covid-19, after working out with fellow lawmakers in the Senate gym only that morning. Not long after, Utah GOP Sens. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney announced they would be going into self-quarantine because of being in contact with Paul; Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) had self-quarantined earlier after possible brushes with infected individuals.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), meanwhile, suggested House Democrats might chart their own course and release their own bill, which could put the Democratic-led House and the Republican-led Senate on different tracks and delay final agreement on any deal.

“We will be introducing our own bill, and hopefully it will be compatible” with what’s happening on the Senate side, Pelosi said after a late-morning meeting with McConnell, Schumer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Mnuchin.

The stock market has lost 10,000 points in six weeks, and some analysts believe that more than 3 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week alone. Much of the U.S. economy is frozen as Americans stay home and cut back on spending, fearful about the coronavirus outbreak. The number of confirmed cases in the United States has grown sharply in the past few days and it does not appear to be slowing.

The economic conditions appear to be dramatically worse than first predicted. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard told Bloomberg News in an interview Sunday that the unemployment rate could hit 30 percent between April and June because of mass layoffs, which would be worse than what occurred during the Great Depression.

In addition to $500 billion in loans and loan guarantees to businesses, states and cities, the Senate GOP legislation would appropriate $350 billion for small businesses (except for non-profits!) that is meant to help prevent more layoffs. It would also send $1,200 checks to many Americans, bolster the unemployment insurance system and disburse a broad range of emergency funds to help reinforce hospitals and other areas.

The Senate bill would be by far the largest financial rescue ever attempted by Congress, dwarfing legislation passed during the financial crisis of 2008.

Typically, when large pieces of legislation become too contentious, lawmakers will try to scale it back to focus on areas of agreement. That could prove complicated this time because of dire warnings about the size of the economy’s dramatic contraction. The bill includes massive funding streams for both households and businesses, and prioritizing one over the other could cause significant issues in the economy.

For example, the direct payments to households would appropriate $1,200 per qualifying adult and $500 per child at a cost of around $250 billion. The cash disbursements in the new agreement would phase out for people with incomes of $75,000 and above. The legislation also includes about $100 billion for hospitals and about $250 billion to beef up state unemployment insurance programs — both major priorities for Democrats.

But many other parts of the bill are meant to address problems flagged by companies, many of whom have said they will be forced to scale back much of their operations if they don’t receive aid soon.

The biggest subset of this $500 billion fund would be $425 billion in loans and loan guarantees meant to rescue “eligible businesses, states or municipalities.” This part of the bill has attracted particular attention from Democrats, some of whom have alleged it would give the Treasury Department broad sway to direct funds to specific companies that have appealed to the White House. Trump has already talked about how he wants to help the cruise industry and the hotel industry, but dozens of other industries have pleaded for assistance as well. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the bucket of money a “slush fund to boost favored companies and corporate executives — while they continue to pull down huge paychecks and fire their workers."

Millions may now lose their jobs. And Trump wants our response to be a half-trillion dollar slush fund to boost favored companies and corporate executives – while they continue to pull down huge paychecks and fire their workers. Here’s what I know and how we stop it:

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 22, 2020

This section also includes $50 billion for passenger airline companies, $8 billion for cargo air firms and $17 billion for companies deemed critical to U.S. national security. The legislation does not include many restrictions on companies that receive these funds. For example, companies are required to maintain the same employment levels that they had as of March 13 “to the extent practicable,” but it does not define what practicable means.

The bill does appear to prohibit stock buybacks at firms that receive the emergency loans and gives the Treasury Department the opportunity to take equity stakes in the firms so that taxpayers could benefit if a firm regains its financial footing.

The $350 billion small business program appeared to have broad bipartisan support, but processing this program could be a major logistical challenge because of the potential number of firms that could seek to have government support.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who chairs the Senate Small Business Committee, said there is a “very strong general agreement” that small businesses will be able to obtain loans up to 250 percent of their one-month payroll. That money, as long as it is used for businesses expenses such as paying workers or providing their benefits, or to cover rent, will be entirely forgiven, Rubio said.

Also sought in the bill is around $100 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for a variety of public health and other needs, and there also are several tax and health policy changes.

Mnuchin said the sweeping economic package is designed to last for 10 to 12 weeks, and the administration would revisit whether it would seek additional assistance from Congress.

Democrats have argued that without protections for workers, companies receiving bailout money could fire their employees and pocket the taxpayer assistance, which would undermine the purpose of the federal aid. Republicans have said, though, that the program needs to be up and running immediately to help the economy before it is too late.

The dynamic on Capitol Hill partly results from lingering resentments among Senate Republicans over the last coronavirus relief bill, a $100 billion-plus package enacted last week negotiated between Pelosi and Mnuchin. Many Senate Republicans were unhappy with paid sick leave provisions in that bill but voted for it anyway.

The enormous package being negotiated is Congress’s third coronavirus relief bill. The first one, enacted earlier this month, appropriated $8.3 billion for the public health system, vaccine development and other needs.

 

 

 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

41 minutes ago, AFTiger said:

Nothing justifies the actions by the Dems.  The bill was put together in a bi-partisan fashion.

Horse crap.  It's a Senate GOP proposal.  There was nothing bi-partisan about the crafting of the bill.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/19/senate-negotiates-third-coronavirus-package-137607

From his own Twitter McConnell acknowledges this as being from Senate Republicans.  Please note the part where he clearly states bi-partisan discussions are coming AFTER the bill was introduced.

https://mobile.twitter.com/senatemajldr/status/1241075595188088832

 

Again, McConnell was either stupid for drawing it up initially without Democrats in the conversation or he was trying to score a political win by being able to paint Dems as obstructing.

[homersapien 11,447]

23 minutes ago, AFTiger said:

Nothing justifies the actions by the Dems.  The bill was put together in a bi-partisan fashion.

 

BS.  You simply listed provisions of the bill that both parties agree to, not the specific objections that the Democrats have with it. That's a very disingenuous presentation of the problem.

See my post above which discusses the objections the Democrats have with the existing bill.

[homersapien 11,447]

McConnell is trying to RAILROAD a $1.8 TRILLION bill.    Think about that. 

 

 

[AUFAN78 3,926]

3 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

1) McConnell was an idiot for not sitting down with Democratic leadership from the beginning when crafting this legislation.  He actually tried to argue that Republicans proposing a bill was the fastest way to get it done, despite knowing he would need the OK of a Democratic house.

2) You left out some key points, including the argument of who should be the beneficiary of bailout money.

 

We've been working on a bipartisan basis, through the task force, with both Republicans and Democrats making very good progress, and putting together a comprehensive package, the third package that we have dealt with. This one is to address and prevent the economic devastation that is being caused by this virus.

And we have a very good plan that we have worked in a bipartisan way, Marco Rubio and I on the Republican side, Ben Cardin and Jeanne Shaheen in very good faith on the Democratic side, that would help these small businesses and keep their employees paid.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/03/23/collins_can_not_believe_democrats_wont_pass_coronavirus_relief_bill_is_this_what_weve_come_to.html

[AUDub 11,184]

Has anyone verified this was even in the Democrat's proposal?

[AFTiger 282]

15 minutes ago, AUDub said:

Has anyone verified this was even in the Democrat's proposal?

https://tinyurl.com/tm97loe

It would be nice if everyone would concentrate on the problem at hand and stop the political games.

[AUDub 11,184]

33 minutes ago, AFTiger said:

https://tinyurl.com/tm97loe

It would be nice if everyone would concentrate on the problem at hand and stop the political games.

I'm seeing the usual unreasonable bull**** that gets stripped out in committee, but no HR with that in the final draft.

Sneaking climate stuff in there is very unlike Pelosi. She'll extend some pie in the sky stiuff in there meaning to bet cut in the name of compromise, but stuff about board diversity and emissions probably wouldn't get through her  

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

1 hour ago, AUFAN78 said:

We've been working on a bipartisan basis, through the task force, with both Republicans and Democrats making very good progress, and putting together a comprehensive package, the third package that we have dealt with. This one is to address and prevent the economic devastation that is being caused by this virus.

And we have a very good plan that we have worked in a bipartisan way, Marco Rubio and I on the Republican side, Ben Cardin and Jeanne Shaheen in very good faith on the Democratic side, that would help these small businesses and keep their employees paid.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/03/23/collins_can_not_believe_democrats_wont_pass_coronavirus_relief_bill_is_this_what_weve_come_to.html

Nothing about the original bill included a Democratic pov.  Your quote is referring to the work being done after Senate Republicans proposed their legislation.   From the article linked below:

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday defended Senate Republicans fast-tracking the third leg of the coronavirus stimulus package without input from Democrats, saying that urgency is key.

"The Republicans are in the majority in the Senate. We wanted to put forward our proposal," McConnell told CNN in an interview that aired Thursday evening.

"We feel like we have an obligation to do that as a majority, and the Democrats, of course, need to be given an opportunity to react to it, and that all begins tomorrow," McConnell told the network's Dana Bash.

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/488581-mcconnell-defends-gop-crafting-stimulus-plan-without-democrats

[AUFAN78 3,926]

27 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

Nothing about the original bill included a Democratic pov.  Your quote is referring to the work being done after Senate Republicans proposed their legislation.   From the article linked below:

We've been working on a bipartisan basis, through the task force, with both Republicans and Democrats making very good progress, and putting together a comprehensive package, the third package that we have dealt with.

So your Hill link was from Friday morning and Sen. Collins was today. Admittedly I've had a few, but help me with the disconnect. Sen. Collins implies there was bi-partisan efforts on this crucial third package and stated that today.

 I'm not saying dems drafted the proposal, but based on Sen. Collins comments, they had input in the negotiations. Right? Wrong?

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

3 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

We've been working on a bipartisan basis, through the task force, with both Republicans and Democrats making very good progress, and putting together a comprehensive package, the third package that we have dealt with.

So your Hill link was from Friday morning and Sen. Collins was today. Admittedly I've had a few, but help me with the disconnect. Sen. Collins implies there was bi-partisan efforts on this crucial third package and stated that today.

 I'm not saying dems drafted the proposal, but based on Sen. Collins comments, they had input in the negotiations. Right? Wrong?

Then you've missed my entire point.  The bi-partisanship needed to happen from the beginning, not after a bill was put forward. Read this again very closely from my first post in the thread.

1) McConnell was an idiot for not sitting down with Democratic leadership from the beginning when crafting this legislation.  He actually tried to argue that Republicans proposing a bill was the fastest way to get it done, despite knowing he would need the OK of a Democratic house.

[AUFAN78 3,926]

13 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

Then you've missed my entire point.  The bi-partisanship needed to happen from the beginning, not after a bill was put forward. Read this again very closely from my first post in the thread.

1) McConnell was an idiot for not sitting down with Democratic leadership from the beginning when crafting this legislation.  He actually tried to argue that Republicans proposing a bill was the fastest way to get it done, despite knowing he would need the OK of a Democratic house.

Cool. Think I'll have another. 

[AUFAN78 3,926]

17 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

Cool. Think I'll have another. 

Dude, if you've never tried Patron Anejo do it soon. Good grief so smooth.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

27 minutes ago, AUFAN78 said:

Dude, if you've never tried Patron Anejo do it soon. Good grief so smooth.

I LOVE a good Anejo.  My go to for drinking nights.

[ShocksMyBrain 9,368]

3 hours ago, AUFAN78 said:

Dude, if you've never tried Patron Anejo do it soon. Good grief so smooth.

Patron Estate is one of the best tequilas I’ve ever had. And I’m a firm hater of Patron. 
 

https://www.patrontequila.com/products/patron-estate-release.html

[AFTiger 282]

House Republicans on Monday night offered a detailed critique of what they called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “socialist wish list” in House Democrats’ $2.5 trillion proposal for responding to the coronavirus outbreak.

“Speaker Pelosi unveiled legislation aimed at exploiting the COVID-19 public health crisis by attempting to force the inclusion of a socialist wish list of policies that have nothing to do with the public health and economic emergency,” said House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican.

 

---

After poring over the 1,400-page proposal, Mr. Scalise offered his characterization of Republicans’ objections to the following items:

Under the heading of “Union Giveaways”:

• Nullifies the White House executive orders on federal collective bargaining and codifies taxpayer-funded union official time.

• Requires a labor union representative on every airline’s board of directors.

• Multiemployer pension bailout lacking needed reforms.

 

• Permanently raises the minimum wage to $15 for any business that receives federal aid for COVID-19.

• Cancels all debt owed by the U.S. Postal Service to the Treasury.

Under the heading “Green New Deal priorities”:

• Requires all airlines that receive assistance to offset carbon emissions for domestic flights by 2025.

• Includes a $1 billion “cash for clunkers” airplane program where the Transportation Department buys fuel-inefficient planes from airlines in exchange for agreeing to buy new ones.

• Includes expansive new tax-credit for solar and wind energy.

Under “Student Loan Forgiveness”:

• $10,000 blanket loan forgiveness.

Under “Federalizing Elections”:

• Mandates how states must run elections, including the nationalization of ballot harvesting, requiring early voting, same day registration, and no-excuse vote by mail.

• Puts states at risk of costly litigation if they are unable to implement these stringent mandates ahead of the 2020 election.

Under “Immigration Provisions”:

• Requires the Homeland Security Department to automatically extend visas and work authorizations expiring within the next year, including those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status, for an amount of time equal to their prior visa, authorization or status.

• Limits Customs and Border Patrol’s ability to shutdown processing centers if there is a health crisis on the border and requires CBP to assure the timely adjudication of asylums applications.

• Would allow certain funding to go to sanctuary cities.

Under “Overreaching Mandates on Businesses”:

• Permanent changes to who can serve on corporate boards of directors for companies that receive assistance for payroll and operating costs.

• Mandatory disclosure on supply chain management.

• Requires board diversity disclosure for all publicly traded companies.

• Ban on all federal rulemaking including non-COVID 19 proposals (extends 30 days after emergency) “in an attempt to delay the current administration from promulgating actions House Democrats disagree with.”
Under “New Permanent Mandates”:

• Virtually rewrites the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program policy with no reference to COVID-19 and permanently disallows rulemaking pertaining to work requirements and eligibility.

• Permanent expansion of Obamacare entitlement, “putting the American taxpayer on the hook for endless and unchecked health insurance spending and would remove all incentives for insurers to reduce the cost of health insurance.”

Mr. Scalise said the Democrats’ bill also excludes bipartisan health-care provision in the Senate bill, including a proposal to expand telehealth access for home dialysis patients, hospice and home health patients; and a measure to prevent a payment reduction for durable medical equipment to help patients’ better transition from the hospital to home.

“Instead of working in a bipartisan, bicameral way to provide this immediate relief, the speaker has proposed legislation that includes highly partisan provisions while excluding key patient care provisions that would have a real impact on Americans affected by COVID-19,” Mr. Scalise told his Republican colleagues.

[homersapien 11,447]

....... In a macabre reprise of Rahm Emanuel’s “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” we see the Trump administration and its Senate allies exploiting a public-health crisis to push through a long-standing, to advance pet causes:

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is attempting to use the crisis to get rid of the Dodd-Frank protections enacted after the financial collapse in 2008.

The Justice Department wants to allow people to be detained indefinitely without charges or trial.

The administration used the coronavirus not just to evacuate 7,300 Peace Corps volunteers but to fire them.

Trump’s team used the surgeon general’s public-health pronouncement to deny due process to asylum seekers.

The administration also cited the crisis in trying to make it easier for federal workers not to have union dues withheld from their paychecks, the New York Times reported.

And now, Senate Republicans, working with the White House, are attempting to push through a stimulus measure that offers a bonanza to corporations. It gives $50 billion to the airline industry without preventing layoffs. It expands corporate tax cuts. It gives Mnuchin a $500 billion blank check to hand out to businesses.

No-strings-attached welfare for big corporations won’t fight the virus and the economic suffering. That would require dramatically more support for small businesses (in exchange for no-layoff promises), vastly expanded payments and a huge investment in the public-health infrastructure. “If people are not safe to live and work, the economy won’t recover,” observes Byron Auguste, a former Obama economic adviser who now runs the labor-market group Opportunity@Work.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/23/president-with-no-empathy-exploits-coronavirus-crisis/

[AFTiger 282]

Any shovel ready projects

How about jobs saved

Why don't Democrats address their concerns instead of creating a disaster?

[homersapien 11,447]

1 hour ago, AFTiger said:

Any shovel ready projects

How about jobs saved

Why don't Democrats address their concerns instead of creating a disaster?

They have. 

Senate:

https://www.democrats.senate.gov/files/documents/ABlueprinttoRebuildAmericasInfrastructure.pdf

 

House:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/house-democrats-unveil-760-billion-infrastructure-package--and-call-on-trump-for-bipartisan-push/2020/01/29/2656e2d0-42ce-11ea-b5fc-eefa848cde99_story.html

 

 

[I_M4_AU 8,003]

Why should we even have an election in November if this bill is passed with the Dem’s *pie in the sky* proposal?  We will be a socialist country.  The Republicans will have to hold the line.

[homersapien 11,447]

1 minute ago, I_M4_AU said:

Why should we even have an election in November if this bill is passed with the Dem’s *pie in the sky* proposal?  We will be a socialist country.  The Republicans will have to hold the line.

Infrastructure replacement is hardly "pie in the sky", it's investment.

 

[I_M4_AU 8,003]

47 minutes ago, homersapien said:

Infrastructure replacement is hardly "pie in the sky", it's investment.

 

Instituting parts of the green new deal and virtual ownership of businesses that are trying to survive sure is.  It takes advantage of a crisis and is deplorable. What did Rep James Clyburn say?  This is a great opportunity to reshape the nation in our image, or something like that?