So a lot of folks are celebrating the deal made between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Trump White House that has been sold to the public as a guarantee that people affected by coronavirus will receive two weeks’ sick leave and three months’ paid family and medical leave.
However, as the NY Times’ Binyamin Applebaum notes, there is a giant hole in the legislation:
The bill does require some employers to provide full-time workers with up to 10 days of paid leave. But the requirement does not apply to the nation’s largest employers — companies with 500 or more workers, who together employ roughly 54 percent of all workers.
That’s right — 54% of all workers will not in fact be guaranteed paid leave because the largest, wealthiest corporations are exempt from having to pay sick leave under the bill. Furthermore, “companies with fewer than 50 employees can seek hardship exemptions”.
In other words, as Applebaum notes, “the bill guarantees sick leave only to about 20 percent of workers.”
Applebaum rightly directs primary blame at the Republicans for inserting this exemption into the bill. As he writes,
The White House and congressional Republicans, who insisted on the exemptions as the price of bipartisan support for the legislation, bear the primary responsibility for the indefensible decision to prioritize corporate profits in the midst of a public health emergency.
But he also rightly does not limit blame to the Republicans here.
But House Democrats also failed to act in the public interest. Paying sick workers to stay at home is both good policy and good politics. Why not pass a bill that required all employers to provide paid sick leave and then force Republicans to explain their objections to the public?
To understand the real world ramifications of this loophole that was granted to the wealthiest and largest corporations:
After a Waffle House employee tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month, the company refused to promise it would pay other sick workers to stay home. Now, under the new bill, it would qualify for the big-company exemption. Would Ms. Pelosi please explain why the House decided not to require Waffle House to protect its workers and customers by paying for sick leave?
To be fair, Applebaum does state that Democrats’ initial draft legislation contained strong measures, pointing out that the draft “included a permanent change requiring employers to allow every worker to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave”, and would’ve had a temporary measure that would provide any worker “10 days of sick leave during a public health emergency”. But as he rightly points out, the final legislation is “only a pale shadow of those sensible requirements”.
I can already sense that many of you will reflexively defend Pelosi and Democrats on this with claims that “this is the best that they could do under the circumstances” and the predictable “why are you trying to tear down Dems????” retort. But I will just reiterate the very reasonable question that Applebaum posits in his piece:
Why not pass a bill that required all employers to provide paid sick leave and then force Republicans to explain their objections to the public?
When people wonder why so many Democrats supported candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders who’ve promised to actually take a stand against powerful interests in this country and have proposed bold, sweeping plans that push the limits of what is considered possible by conventional wisdom, this is exactly why.
To put it another way, does anyone doubt that if Warren or Sanders were in Pelosi’s shoes that they would’ve done what Applebaum suggested and at least tried to apply public pressure and shame on Republicans and the White House to drop their exemptions for corporate America?
But Pelosi and Democratic leadership never even tried this option, presumably because doing so would’ve been divisive and combative, that Washington pundits would’ve called them irresponsible. Or worse, considering how monied interests have such influence over both parties, it’s possible they didn’t press the issue so as to avoid alienating those interests.
This goes to the heart of what I and many others find so odious about not just Republicans but the ruling order within the Democratic Party as well. They constantly act as if they have no power, or if they do they do not have the audacity or courage to actually wield it. To paraphrase Lyndon Johnson, what the hell good is having power if we won’t even apply it? And especially so in a time of crisis?
If even in a public health emergency, with the very real possibility of large amount of Americans dying and even more suffering terrible economic consequences, the Democratic Party won’t go to the mattresses to do right by average Americans who the Democrats are supposed to stand for, what the hell good are they? Say what you will about Trump and the Republicans, but they have no hesitation about going to bat for their constituency, which here would be corporate America. But Democrats would rather wave the white flag rather than actually fight for what is right for their constituents. It seems the current iteration of Democrats only serve the purpose of being the less bad option, or making sure things aren’t worse as opposed to actually fighting to do the right thing.
So again, if you wonder why for instance I supported someone like Elizabeth Warren, who was criticized by many moderate Democrats including people on this page for proposing “unrealistic” plans that “would never pass”, moments like this are precisely why. I want to finally see Democrats actually try to push the envelope, to actually fight their hardest to get the maximum benefit for their constituents, and push the limits of what is considered “realistic”. Because for too long, “realistic” has been measures such as the coronavirus bill that exempts large corporations from doing the basic minimum for workers and leaves far too many average people twisting in the wind.
This is why trust in government is so low. This is why people are so disillusioned with both Republicans and Democrats.
Because imagine you are a worker at McDonald’s who heard Trump or Pelosi saying that they would be guaranteed two weeks’ paid leave. But then when you actually come down with coronavirus or you are forced to stay home due to a coronavirus outbreak, you learn that your company was exempted from having to pay you the paid leave you heard Trump or Pelosi said you would get.
You can understand why such a person would just conclude that both parties are worthless and only seem to work for the rich and for corporations. You can see why telling such a person “but at least Democrats got something” or “the Democrats did their best” or “it’s Trump’s fault!” wouldn’t be very reassuring. Because all those excuses wouldn’t be worth a bucket of warm piss to a person in that predicament.
But unfortunately, given that Warren has dropped out and given that Sanders looks certain to lose, it seems clear that the Democratic Party’s approach will not be changing any time soon. That is, unless we the people put enormous pressure on our party and especially its leadership to do the right thing.
We will not bring about the change we need if we simply engage in the mindless cheerleading and uncritical, unconditional support that too many of us succumb to. If you look at history, contrary to what some people have erroneously claimed, it has not been our political leaders who spearheaded the efforts to make reforms and programs like Social Security, Medicare, civil rights, labor rights, unemployment insurance, and the progressive income tax possible.
Each and every one of those policies were tirelessly pushed by average people who formed movements, who proposed these policies despite the conventional wisdom and establishment politicians who said such measures were fantasy and would never pass. That also goes for giant Democratic figures like Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, who without enormous pressure on them would never have even attempted many of the policies they became known for.
I so emphatically state my concerns here because too many people on our side seem to think the problem is that liberals are too critical of our politicians, that in fact we need to more blindly support our leaders lest we make them less beloved and popular.
This is precisely the wrong approach especially considering who we are about to nominate as our standard bearer. Joe Biden is a consummate Washington politician promising to not change things very much. Like such politicians are wont to do, if we do not apply pressure on him to do what is needed, he will not act as caution and comfort are the default modes for such politicians.
And believe it or not, I actually see a great deal of potential in Biden for the simple fact that, if he wins the presidency, he will be the most experienced legislator to enter the White House since Lyndon Johnson. Many Democrats with a romanticized view of Johnson may be tempted to think this is proof that Biden will automatically be a legislator along the lines of Johnson, after all they’ll say Johnson passed civil rights, Medicare, and the Great Society.
But Johnson, who in the Senate was a relatively conservative and cautious politician who in fact opposed civil rights for much of his time there, would’ve passed none of the legislation he became known for were it not for the fact that he lived in constant fear that liberals would try to topple his presidency if he did not do so.
As Johnson himself said of why he decided, upon entering the presidency, to pass as ambitious a civil rights bill as he possibly could:
“I knew that if I didn’t get out in front of this issue, they (northern liberals) would get me. They’d throw my background against me, they’d use it to prove that I was incapable of bringing unity to the land I love so much...I couldn’t let that happen. I had to produce a civil rights bill that was stronger than the one they’d have gotten if Kennedy had lived.”
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We must demand that our Democratic leaders do better by us or we will continue to get inadequate measures that further erode trust in both government and the Democratic Party’s ability to stand up and deliver for the average Americans they have historically represented.