We Know Exactly Who The Democrats Want To Bail Out-- They Passed A Bill Months Ago... What About Trump And The Republicans?

Lambchop by Nancy Ohanian

Doesn't it seem like the GOP actually wants to inflict misery on the working class? It seems that way because it is that way. McConnell purposely let the eviction moratorium and enhanced unemployment benefits expire before allowing even a discussion in the Senate about what to do to alleviate Trump's COVID-economy. While flaming asshole and coke freak Larry Kudlow was on the elitist Fox Business channel promising GOP donors "increased business deductions for meals and entertainment"-- long a self-serving priority for Trump-- as part of the relief package being thrashed out in Congress, Mnuchin told reporters that McConnell's and his proposal would reduce the expanded $600 weekly unemployment benefit to $200 a week. Asked about Mnuchin's announcement, Kudlow called it just a "technical adjustment." Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) called it something else:

Erica Werner, Jeff Stein and Seung Min Kim, reporting for the Washington Post, wrote that "Senate Republicans want to reduce the $600 payment to $200 until states can implement a new approach that would pay the unemployed 70 percent of the income they collected before they lost their jobs. The states are supposed to phase in the new formula within two months under the new GOP plan, though it’s unclear how cumbersome that process could prove to be. Many state unemployment systems are expected to have difficulty implementing the more targeted program, so the $200 weekly payment would be designed to serve as a bridge until the other changes are made. The $200 would come on top of whatever unemployment benefits states already pay, which vary but generally replace 45 percent of a worker’s wages before they lost their job." Reducing that $600 payment has been a key GOP focus of both Trump's, the Senate Republicans' and Republicans in the House.

In addition to the reduced unemployment benefits the legislation is expected to include a new round of $1,200 checks to individual Americans, billions of dollars for schools with some of the money aimed at helping classrooms reopen, and a five-year liability shield for businesses, health-care providers and others.

The legislation also includes at least $100 billion more for the small-business Paycheck Protection Program. It does not contain any new money for state and local governments-- a key Democratic demand-- but instead gives state and local leaders additional flexibility in spending the $150 billion approved in the Cares Act in March.

...“We have unemployment running out, we have renter protection running out, we have state and local governments going into a new month and won’t have the money and will lay off thousands and thousands of people,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) said Monday morning on MSNBC. “We’re at all these cliffs and we still at this very moment don’t have a plan from the Republicans. We want to sit down and negotiate. But you can’t negotiate with a ghost.”

...Congressional Democrats oppose both GOP plans to curb the benefit amount and to transition the payment system to the new model. Critics point out state unemployment offices have already been overwhelmed. The National Association of State Workforce Agencies has warned in a memo circulated on Capitol Hill that targeted wage replacement could take most states “8 to 20 weeks or more” to implement from the date of the Labor Department’s guidance.

“We are skeptical that state UI infrastructure has improved dramatically since the CARES Act given how overloaded the system has been,” Evercore ISI, which conducts market research, said in a Monday note.

Julie Oliver (TX) and Kara Eastman (NE) are both running against Trump enablers who the came close to dislodging in 2018. Each has a great chance to do so in November. I asked them to give me their takes on the way the relief package is moving. "Pay and benefits for tens of millions of American workers," said Julie, "was too low before the pandemic. Millions of people have lost their jobs. Now, instead of getting Texans the relief necessary to stay afloat, Roger Williams wants to end the $600 UI extension and let your boss allow you to get coronavirus. And that's after he funneled millions in undisclosed taxpayer bailout funds to his own personal business in Weatherford. We need real relief, and we need it now. Direct cash payments, moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, and a suspension of consumer debt collection, rent and mortgage payments. We're facing an unemployment crisis, eviction crisis, a health crisis, a child care crisis, and a business failure crisis, all feeding each other at once. We need someone fighting for the people in this district in Congress, not someone only in it to help himself.

Kara Eastman's incumbent is a lot like Julie's-- a big waste of a seat. She told that "Unfortunately, Rep. Bacon is aligned with the Republican approach. He voted 'no' on the HEROES Act, and has repeatedly stated that the government is spending too much on COVID relief. That's funny, because he seemed to be fine with the $1.5 trillion giveaway to corporations and wealthy interested in the 2017 tax bill. He voted 'yes' then and still brags about it. My approach is different: we need to listen to the people who are struggling because they can't pay rent, are losing their unemployment, and are juggling between putting food on the table and paying bills."

Cathy Kunkel is running for office for the first time. Republicans in West Virginia would be smart to hear what she's saying: "Thousands of West Virginians are still struggling in this ongoing economic depression-- and as WV utilities start processing shutoffs over the next month, this pain will intensify. Now is not the time to cut pandemic unemployment compensation. Clearly Senate leadership is more interested in pursuing their ongoing war on working class and poor Americans than in getting us out of this economic depression-- which requires getting money into the hands of people who will actually spend it, not Wall St billionaires."