Republican Leader Mitch McConnell already relented on his vow not to do another pandemic relief bill after Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi promised the House would forge ahead with the aim of providing an additional $1 trillion in aid to state and local governments.
Now McConnell is naming his terms and, not surprisingly, it has nothing to do with getting aid to the governments facing a financial abyss. Nope. Businesses and corporations! They, more than anyone, are the ones that need protecting according to Republicans.
The "red line" for McConnell and GOP leadership in the House is including liability protections for companies just in case, for instance, they force their employees to work in unsafe conditions in a pandemic and people get injured or die. Fascinating that Republicans are insisting on this protective cover just as GOP officials in red states start to reopen for business and threaten to strip unemployment insurance from workers who refuse to return to work. In other words, you can either put your life on the line or starve—you choose.
In their statement, McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to sell the idea that they were protecting front-line healthcare workers. "Senate and House Republicans are united in our demand that healthcare workers, small businesses, and other Americans on the front lines of this fight must receive strong protections from frivolous lawsuits," they said in a joint statement.
What a ruse. This is about large companies and giant corporations being protected from workers filing suits against them for failing to provide a safe work environment. That's who Republicans are fighting for—not you, not me, and certainly not the front-line healthcare workers putting their lives on the line.