Pelosi Slams McConnell’s Latest Coronavirus Package, Says It’s A ‘Non-Starter’
By: Cristina Cabrera - TPM
Yeah, the Senate emergency response package needs some work. But I'm not sure Democrats understand the purpose of the Senate package.
The Senate legislation is true stimulus funding. And Democrats are correct, there does need to be restrictions on using the stimulus funds for stock buybacks, management bonuses, and some of the other shady misuses of stimulus funds the we saw during the Great Recession. Recovery from this disaster means that banks and the stock market are at the end of the line. Finance will just have to wait its turn.
Don't ignore the purpose of the Senate's stimulus package. The Senate is preparing for the peak of the pandemic and preparing to restart the consumer economy. At the peak of the pandemic, half of those expected to be infected with COVID-19 will have been infected. That half will have obtained natural immunity from COVID-19 and will have cleared the virus from their system so won't infect others. Those who have developed immunity by being infected will be able to return to normal activities.
The people that have obtained natural immunity from COVID-19 will be able to return to work, go shopping, eat out, travel, and do whatever they did before without being a risk to those who have not been infected. The people who have passed through the pandemic will want to return to normal.
Perhaps the Senate is being overly optimistic when the pandemic will peak. But the peak will come. Those who have become naturally immune to COVID-19 will be able to restart the consumer economy and begin the return to normal. What the Senate is proposing for stimulus will be necessary. It's not a matter of if it will be needed but, rather, when it will be needed.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shot down Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) latest emergency response package to the COVID-19 outbreak on Friday.
As you know, Senator McConnell has released his proposal for a third coronavirus response package, which is not at all pro-worker and puts corporations ahead of working people,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to her Democratic colleagues. “As written, it is a non-starter.”
The Democratic leader added that the new bill must “put money directly into the hands of those who need it most.”
McConnell unveiled Senate Republicans’ package on Thursday. Under the proposal, individuals would receive cash payments of up to $1,200, while couples would receive up to $2,400. The payments begin to phase out for those earning $75,000.
However, only $600 would go to those with no federal tax liability. Per the Washington Post, the bill would not assist approximately 22 million Americans who are making less than $40,000.
Additionally, the bill does not address the issue of corporations using bailout funds for stock buybacks.
Lawmakers are slated to continue negotiations over the bill on Saturday.
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Timing is important and it may be too early for stimulus. But a stimulus package for businesses and consumers will be needed. Democrats dragging their feet too long will only delay a return to normalcy. Democrats will risk turning a disaster into a recession if they throw up too many roadblocks.
OK, so just set to work on it and make some compromises. Why does there need to be public posturing over it? This public campaigning over critical emergency legislation is smarmy.
This is smarmy and pure BS. 25 days working/busting their chops to impeach the President and ignoring the President's statement and WHO's statements. The Dems will never work with the President/Repubs for anything but their own pleasures.
Great timeline. This really shows the damage that can be done - not just by a political party focused on election politics - but also by an obsessive and partisan media that refused to cover anything else. Even when they aren't engaged in partisan politics, they can never seem to handle more than one story at a time.
Of the two issues - impeachment or coronavirus - which do we now wish we were paying the most attention to in January?
if impeachment had been successful, as it should have been, if not for GOP Senators REFUSING TO SEE THE DAMN EVIDENCE OR HEAR THE WITNESSES who had MUCH TO OFFER, Trump wouldn't have been able to downplay this catastrophe. He has totally screwed up the handling, and continues to.
Hell, he only admitted it wasn't in control a DAMN WEEK AGO.
WTF R U 2 even talking about.
Trump is a disaster all within himself.
People WILL DIE FROM TRUMP's LIES, if they haven't already.
Sad days in America.
You shouldn't listen to unsubstantiated allegations. There is no reason to think any of those things.
Copied material of this length is supposed to have a link or some attribution as to the source. .
There is a real simple fix to this. Fix the bill to address the issue of corporations using bailout funds for stock buybacks. No additional pork either.
I blame both sides for not coming to terms with this.
I am not surprised that the current crop of bozos in Congress are still playing politics even with this crisis at hand. Term limits!
No, it's not shocking at all. Both sides politicizing and abusing a terrible situation pointing at each other while not helping the American people.
Term limits would solve this for sure.
Make a write in for Michael Bloomberg.
He'd be better than Biden.
Yep, seems like a no-brainer. If they can't do that then give the President latitude on implementation as was done with Obamacare. That makes Trump the scapegoat which seems to be politically desirable.
Seems to me the big political obstacle is that this second relief package originated in the Senate instead of in the House. And we've already forgotten about the first relief package the House pushed through.
We seem to have also forgotten that the Senate impeachment vote that acquitted Trump was on Feb. 6; five weeks after the world became aware of a SARS outbreak in China and two weeks after the first COVID-19 case in the United States was confirmed. Impeachment really has proven to have been a distraction.
I cannot help but think that Bill Clinton ( or Bush or Obama ) would have welcomed the distraction and been more on top of things not related to impeachment.
But speculation, some say, is the mother of all evil.
You do realize that Trump formed a task force to monitor and contain the virus on Jan. 29 and imposed travel restrictions to/from China on Jan. 30.
On those two days Senators were asking final questions before voting on hearing witnesses during the impeachment trial. If the Senate had voted to hear witnesses the impeachment trial wouldn't have ended on Feb. 6.
Those are the facts; not speculation.
Good grief Nerm.
The whole Impeachment thing was predictable. The House would Impeach and the Senate would acquit.
Was there ever any serious consideration to any other outcome? No. At least not on my planet.
Trumps feeling were hurt but there wasn't one day where there was ever a doubt about the outcome.
So if the theory of the impeachment being a distraction has any weight, it speaks to the lack of concentration of the POTUS and this Administration on the big picture.
Clinton's Administration carried on, passing bills and doing diplomacy just fine.
By the way, patient zero was hospitalized 11/17/19 but wasn't diagnosed to have the "new strain" until December 1, 2019.
It took the Administration 60 days to announce that they would reconstitute a pandemic team and common sense travel bans by which time the virus was already here in the states by mid January.
Don't get me wrong, I think this administration is a clown car on steroids led by PT Barnum.
However, in spite of them, the low death toll is a credit to our amazing health care system as compared to the likes of Italy, Iran, Spain and China.
This is heading in one direction - To Pelosi writing up a highly partisan & inflated Bill and sending it back over to the Senate, while people are suffering. We will either end up with the House initiating all 3 Bills or no aid package!
As evidenced by Pelosi holding economic relief from Americans who, by no fault of their own, are unable to sustain economic stability, to purchase necessary food or medical supplies, or to pay their housing costs. What's peace of mind to Pelosi.... a woman who steps over the human misery and waste in her own district. If the left re-elects this woman or her enablers, we shall know their loyalties in spite of what virtues they claim to possess otherwise. (Albeit, not to disclose something new.)