Republicans Still Holding Up Pandemic Relief-- Hoping To Make Political Points

Trump has a stronger hand than the Democrats do in the negotiations over the pandemic relief package. That's because he doesn't care about the impact on the American people and even the most conservative and corporatist Democrats do care-- or, at the very least, have to appear to. Trump couldn't care less if millions of people starve or are evicted-- especially if he can blame it on his political opponents.

Yesterday, The Hill reported that Pelosi and Schumer offered a split the difference deal-- the Democrats $3.4 trillion package that passed in May would meet the GOP $1 trillion plan that McConnell proposed in the middle to something between $2 billion and $2.4 billion. Trump refused. At a press conference, Pelosi said "'We'll take down a trillion, if you add a trillion in.' They said absolutely not... I will once again make the offer: We'll come down a trillion, you go up a trillion, and then we'll be within range of each other. But again, this a very different set of values across the table."

Mnuchin confirmed that by calling Pelosi's offer a "non-starter." Trump appears to want to get into a fight with the Democrats by claiming he can fix everything by executive order. He can't. He never quite understood that Congress authorizes spending not presidents or even would-be dictators.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), a senior member of both the Financial Services Committee and the Intelligence Committee has a good overview of this kind of negotiation. "Maybe you can accuse Democrats of being overcomprehensive in our initial offer," he told me yesterday, "but when people are suffering that’s no sin. What is ludicrous is the Republican idea of deductions for fancy business lunches and more fighter planes. And of course, they can’t even pass that awful idea in the Senate."

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) was as brutal in what he had to say about this ugly hostage situation as McConnell and the congressional Republicans deserve: "When Mitch McConnell called himself the Grim Reaper, like most people I assumed he was talking about killing legislation. Sadly it looks like he is taking the self-proclaimed position a bit more literally these days. With more than 1,000 Americans dying every day from COVID-19 and millions out of work, the Republican Senate’s refusal to act on an additional relief package is as heartless as it is stupid. Let’s review the facts: House Democrats passed a bill in May extending unemployment insurance, preventing evictions, funding local government etc. We asked Republicans to work with us and negotiate a compromise. They refused (the Senate Majority Leader even implied states should just go bankrupt). Then they recessed the Senate for half of July wasting more time as relief was set to expire. And now Leader McConnell is negotiating in bad faith and trying to gaslight the American people. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, don’t be stupid, wear a mask in public!"

Hopefully California Democrat, historian Liam O'Mara will be joining Himes in Congress next year. "There are, indeed," he said, "very different values at play in discussion of pandemic relief. Ken Calvert is whining about the presence of support for cannabis banking protections in the House bill. Excuse me, Congressman?? You have farmers harassed left and right in Riverside County because federal policy is out of touch with both medical needs and reality itself. And helping to protect small farmers and provide relief to patients is a sticking point, while billions is pork to defence contractors is not?? The GOP isn't interested in helping the American people. They are interested in funnelling ever more money into the hands of their corporate overlords, and offer the most minimal relief to ordinary people only when forced. As it stands, the now-expired small business lending system we created for this emergency was extensively raided by profitable corporations, and Calvert voted against oversight for that spending. He wants welfare for the rich, and to hell with stores, restaurants, barbers, and the rest. Ken Calvert will never fight for you-- he will continue to raise your taxes, steal your wealth, and laugh all the way to the bank. It's time we stood up and said no."

Another top Democratic challenger, Mike Siegel, who is running against Trump crony Michael McCaul in central Texas, noted that "Creating a mountain of public money out of thin air to backstop Wall Street and donor interests, while refusing to do the same for working people is sadly par for the course with this corrupt administration. We need new leadership that fully funds solutions that fit the actual scale of the problems we face with the coronavirus and with our crumbling economy."

Kara Eastman, one of the 5 mostly likely Democrats to flip a red district blue, told us that "One of Trump's chief enablers in Congress, Don Bacon, seems to be in line with the Administration's approach. He voted 'no' on the HEROES Act and he's made public statements that show he cares very little about the people in Nebraska who are facing evictions and a loss of unemployment benefits. It's no surprise from a representative who has voted 95% with Trump but it's the opposite of what we need here in Nebraska's Second. If I had been in Congress I would have voted 'yes' for the HEROES Act and I would have strongly pushed for aid for more cities when the CARES act first passed, too. Bacon failed to do so and now Omaha is facing a massive budget shortfall."

State Rep. Jon Hoadley just won her primary in Michigan's 6th congressional district on Tuesday. This morning he told me that his opponent, serial Trump-enabler Fred Upton "stood with Trump against much needed funding for working people, first responders, teachers, and health care workers. Right when Southwest Michigan needs a leader to work on these issues, Upton isn't putting his 33 years in Congress to any use for us. Time for change."

 




Bernie has introduced the Make Billionaires Pay Act which is a one-top 60% tax on billionaires' profits from the pandemic to pay for Americans healthcare costs. Bernie: "The legislation I am introducing today will tax the obscene wealth gains billionaires have made during this extraordinary crisis to guarantee healthcare as a right to all for an entire year. At a time of enormous economic pain and suffering, we have a fundamental choice to make. We can continue to allow the very rich to get much richer while everyone else gets poorer and poorer. Or we can tax the winnings a handful of billionaires made during the pandemic to improve the health and well-being of tens of millions of Americans... In my view, it is time for the Senate to act on behalf of the working class who are hurting like they have never hurt before, not the billionaire class who are doing phenomenally well and have never had it so good... Instead of more tax breaks for the rich while more Americans die because they cannot afford to go to a doctor, let us expand Medicare and save lives by demanding that billionaires pay their fair share of taxes."

Sanders' legislation would cover all medical bills, including prescription drugs and coronavirus-related expenses, over the next 12 months with the tax staying in effect until January 1, 2021.

So who's he talking about? The tax would generate over $421 billion and these 5 would make up for $87.1 billion of it. The amount is how much their wealth grew between March and May

• Jeff Bezos (Amazon)- $71,299,000
• Bill Gates (Microsoft)- $14,452,000
• Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)- $37,968,000
• Larry Ellison (Oracle)- $13,665,000
• Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway)- 7,791,000

The other big losers would be Jim, Alice and Ron Walton, Steve Balmer, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Michael Bloomberg, Charles and Julia Koch, MacKenzie Scott (+$22,946,000), Phil Knight, Sheldon Adelson, Jacqueline and John Mars, Elon Musk (+$45,902,000), Michael Dell, Jim Simons, Len Blatvatnik, Laureen Powell Jobs, Stephen Schwarzman, Rupert Murdoch... Bezos would pay $42,779,000 and Gates would pay $103,780.Each Koch would pay around $2.6 million and it would only cost Bloomberg $2.7 million. If you're on this list, it's going to cost you; otherwise-- not.