Over the past week, Democrats have lost the narrative a bit with regard to economic stimulus in response to the coronavirus outbreak and its resultant economic fallout. Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly rejected a proposal by former Obama economic advisor Jason Furman to provide direct payments to all Americans, instead favoring tax credits that would be means-tested. Also, despite having all the leverage against a Trump Administration reeling from its bungled and delayed response to coronavirus, Pelosi agreed to exempt the largest corporations — those with over 500 employees — from providing paid sick and family leave.
Meanwhile, Pelosi was seemingly outflanked to her left by GOP Senators like Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton who called for direct payments to all Americans. On paid leave, libertarian congressman Justin Amash and the Heritage Foundation also seemed to outflank Pelosi by coming out against exempting large corporations from providing paid leave.
But alas, it appears that Democrats have been handed a huge political gift by clueless Senate Republicans who clearly could not help their impulse to help their rich friends first and stiff the poor and working classes.
That’s right, this bill would provide a one-time payment of $1,200 per adult and $500 per child, not enough to cover one month’s bills for most Americans, and 22 million of the lowest income Americans would get nothing. How clueless are these Senate Republicans? Here’s Lindsay Graham:
“Direct payments make sense when an economy is beginning to restart. Makes no sense now, because it’s just money. What I want is income, not one check. I want you to get a check you count on every week, not one week,” Graham told reporters, adding that he was about to speak with newly named White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to share his views.
Uh, there isn’t any income because people can’t fucking work because they can’t even go the fuck outside you lousy sack of shit.
Meanwhile, competing with Graham for most clueless fuckstick is Richard Shelby:
“I personally think that if we are going to help people, we ought to direct the cash payments maybe as a supplement to unemployment, not to the people that are still working every day,” Shelby said. “You know, just a blanket cash check to everybody in America that’s making up to $75,000, I don’t know the logic of that.”
What about all the people who don’t qualify for unemployment insurance, Dick? You ever think of that?
Oh, and here’s the real kicker.
The bill also outlines in greater detail the terms for receiving targeted federal help from the federal government, as proposed earlier by the Trump administration. The legislation includes $50 billion in “loans and loan guarantees” for passenger airlines; $8 billion for “cargo air carriers”; and $150 billion for other “eligible businesses,” a category administration officials have suggested could include the hotel and cruise industries. The legislation appears to give the Treasury Department wide authority in determining which businesses qualify for this $150 billion fund.
So crumbs and jack shit for the poors, not to mention means-testing to make sure nobody’s mooching, but companies who during good times frittered away their money on stock buy-backs instead of saving for a rainy day will get a big ol’ piggy bank to bail them out.
Aside from that, nothing on wiping out individual debt and student loans, nothing on help with avoiding eviction or foreclosure. And what’s more?
That’s right, Senate Republicans want to limit the paid leave that the Trump White House and Pelosi already limited in their coronavirus bill.
The Republicans have handed the Democrats a golden political opportunity here, a chance to regain the narrative on who really is looking out for the American people. This is preeminently the time for Democrats to go as big as possible.
Fortunately, there are a number of Democrats who have already taken the initiative. Senators Cory Booker, Michael Bennet, and Sherrod Brown came up with a plan where all Americans “could get as much as $4,500 per person, or $18,000 for a family of four” depending on how long the crisis lasts.
Elizabeth Warren came up with her own plan that would include “broad cancellation of student debt”, increase Social Security benefits by $200 a month, close the gaps in the coronavirus paid leave bill, and “immediately halt evictions in federally subsidized, backed or insured housing, institute a moratorium on all foreclosure proceedings, increase funding for homelessness services and create a new program to allow homeowners to delay or modify their mortgage payments during disasters.”
Furthermore, Warren has proposed imposing strong conditions on bailout money to corporations.
- Companies must maintain payrolls and use federal funds to keep people working.
- Businesses must provide $15 an hour minimum wage quickly but no later than a year from the end
- Companies would be permanently banned from engaging in stock buybacks.
- Companies would be barred from paying out dividends or executive bonuses while they receive federal funds and the ban would be in place for three years.
- Businesses would have to provide at least one seat to workers on their board of directors, though it could be more depending on size of the rescue package.
- Collective bargaining agreements must remain in place.
- Corporate boards must get shareholder approval for all political spending.
- CEOs must certify their companies are complying with the rules and face criminal penalties for violating them.
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And not to be outdone, Rep. Maxine Waters came out with her own extraordinarily bold proposal that would, among other things, end all debt collection for the duration of the crisis:
As mentioned, in the coronavirus bill negotiations, Nancy Pelosi had all the leverage, but regrettably she simply was not ambitious nor imaginative enough. But it is clear that the ground has shifted considerably even since those negotiations just one week ago.
And further adding to Pelosi’s leverage was the revelation this afternoon that two Senate Republicans, Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler, apparently traded on inside information they gathered from a confidential briefing on coronavirus that they and three other senators (Feinstein, Inhofe, Ron Johnson) received in late January.
The scandal has struck such a nerve that when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent out a tweet condemning Loeffler, even a number of prominent conservatives cheered her on, just go see the responses.
And to top it all off, here’s race-baiting, Trump-sucking right-wing ghoul Tucker Carlson condemning Burr and calling for his resignation and prosecution:
The Republican Senate has in their eternal political wisdom committed hari-kiri on an epic scale. They have zero leverage right now. The public both right and left are ready to walk up to Capitol Hill to tar and feather them.
If ever there was a moment to go as big as possible and dare the Republican Senate to reject it and risk the wrath of the American people, that time is now. And by extension they must make Donald Trump face a stark choice in his re-election year: side with the Senate Republicans or the American people.
The House Democrats must use their political leverage to the maximum extent possible. They must not give in to the usual technocratic, cautious, means-tested, centrist bullshit they’ve too often resorted to. Do not overthink this. Fuck what the “reasonable”, ultra-concerned, squishy Beltway pundits and figures on Morning Joe have to say about how it’s fiscally irresponsible or maybe gives money to some people who might not need. We don’t have time to go through all those layers of bureaucracy and complexity, people need help ASAP. Now is the time to prove once and for all to the American public who is on their side and who will actually deliver for them in a big fuckin’ way at their moment of dire need.
So, to Speaker Pelosi, the House Democratic leadership, and Senate Democrats, I implore you not to waste this opportunity, and implore you to truly help the American people and to break the power of the rich and powerful interests who have for too long bled this country and its people dry to line their own pockets.
For the love of God, pretty please with a cherry on top, do right by the American people and do not dare hold back. This is your FDR/New Deal/World War II moment. Do not blow this.