Tag: Economic Stimulus

Even More Stim Stuff

We all have heard the debate on whether us mere mortals would get $600 or $2000….depending on which side wins this political battle.

Personally I think we may be having the wrong debate……we should be asking just why in the Hell are rich people getting more stim money?

The issue of whether Americans will get relief checks of $600 or $2,000 is now in the hands of the Senate, and the legislative jiu-jitsu already has begun. It’s expected to play out over a few days, and how it will end up is anyone’s guess at this point. Meanwhile, a different argument has surfaced about who should get the money. Coverage:

  • A shift: Axios reports that as recently as a few days ago, it seemed “impossible” the Senate would back $2,000 checks. But that has changed with senators feeling the pressure from President Trump and their own constituents. Some Republicans may not be able to risk a “no” vote, putting the needed threshold of 60 votes in sight. However, it’s still an “uphill battle,” per Axios.
  • Support growing: So far, GOP Sens. David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler, Marco Rubio, Josh Hawley, and Deb Fischer have announced their support of the $2,000 checks, reports the Washington Post. Perdue and Loeffler are under particular pressure to back the larger amounts because they face runoff elections in Georgia next week. That still leaves Democrats seven votes short, though the numbers are changing quickly.
  • Your money: So what does all this mean in terms of when you’ll get money? The Treasury may begin sending out $600 payments at some point this week, on track with its original schedule, reports the Wall Street Journal. If the final amount ends up being $2,000, the payments “will be topped up,” says a Treasury official. The first payments could go out Wednesday, though it’s possible that could change. Most would be in the form of direct deposits.
  • Wrong question? In a Washington Post op-ed, Catherine Rampell says the $600 vs. $2,000 debate is the wrong one to be having. Instead, she wants to know why rich people will be getting relief checks, too. Yes, they might not get the full amount, but even a family that earns $350,000 would get something. These nearly universal payments are inefficient, she writes. “The payments end up being a pittance for higher-income, fully employed households, yet insufficient for the households that suffered large income losses.”
  • The maneuvering: On Tuesday, Mitch McConnell rejected an attempt by Chuck Schumer to stage a quick, up-or-down vote on the larger checks. But this is just the opening gambit, with McConnell signaling he will tuck the increase into other legislation to be considered soon, per the Hill. It might, for example, be linked to the repeal of a legal shield for tech companies.
  • A slam: The conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal (which opposes larger checks) is seething at Trump for putting McConnell in a bind. Holding a vote “would split the GOP caucus and upset fiscally conservative voters,” the editors write. McConnell could instead opt to block a vote, but either way “it amounts to a Donald Trump in-kind contribution” to Schumer and Joe Biden. All of this also puts Georgia’s two GOP senators in danger of losing their runoffs, the editorial adds. If the GOP loses its majority, “Republicans across the country should know to thank Mr. Trump for their 2021 tax increase.”
  • Unfazed: Trump is keeping up the pressure. “$2000 for our great people, not $600!” he tweeted Tuesday morning. “They have suffered enough from the China Virus!!!”

I still do not see why billionaires needed subsidizing.

But the good news is the stim checks are said to go out on Tuesday…but they will be smaller than wanted….thanx to …..you guessed it….the Senate.

Stimulus payments are on the way, Steven Mnuchin says. The Treasury Secretary announced Tuesday that the first stimulus payments of up to $600 per person would be arriving in bank accounts within hours, the Hill reports. “These payments may begin to arrive in some accounts by direct deposit as early as tonight and will continue into next week,” he tweeted. For those without government-registered bank accounts, “paper checks will begin to be mailed tomorrow,” he said, adding that starting later this week, people will be able to check their payment status at IRS.gov/CheckMyPayment.

“These payments are an integral part of our commitment to providing vital additional economic relief to the American people during this unprecedented time,” Mnuchin said in a statement, per CNBC. The Treasury Department says full payments of $600 per individual, $1,200 per couple, and $600 per child will be received by individuals with a gross adjusted income of $75,000 or less for 2019 and couples with an income of $150,000 or less. ” For filers with income above those amounts, the payment amount is reduced,” the department says. President Trump, congressional Democrats, and some GOP lawmakers have called for the payment to be raised to $2,000, but a vote on a measure to boost payments was blocked in the Senate Tuesday.

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More Stim News

After Trump renigged on his veto of the new economic stim package it has moved forward….and the peasants danced…..

But it looks like the GOP in Congress will yet work against the best interest of the American people…

House Democrats’ attempt to consider $2,000 stimulus checks has officially been blocked by their Republican colleagues in the lower chamber, despite President Donald Trump’s support for this very measure.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Thursday requested “unanimous consent” to pass a new bill guaranteeing these payments after Trump demanded that stimulus checks in the final coronavirus relief package be increased from $600 to $2,000. Trump’s request — an apparent political stunt — has now been blocked by members of his own party.

Because Hoyer asked for unanimous consent to bring the standalone bill to a vote, and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not consent, the measure did not move forward. House Democrats plan to bring it up again for a recorded vote next Monday, when they are likely to face more GOP opposition. Senate Republican leadership hasn’t made any moves to consider the proposal, either.

https://www.vox.com/2020/12/24/22197748/stimulus-checks-2000-congress-trump-pelosi-mcconnell

As predicted the House did the right thing and now it will move to the Senate and we know what they think of most Americans….

The House voted Monday to send Americans who qualify $2,000, agreeing with President Trump that the $600 called for in the recently approved pandemic stimulus package is inadequate. Trump had threatened to veto that legislation, which included money to keep the government operating, before signing it Sunday night. The measure passed the House 275-134, the Washington Post reports, with 44 Republicans voting in favor and 130 against. Democrats tried to approve the higher amounts last week. “We could’ve passed the bill four days ago, but our colleagues on the other side went against the president’s wishes and blocked it,” said Democratic Rep. Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. But the legislation still has a long way to go.

The full Senate might not even consider the measure, Politico reports. Although a few Senate Republicans have endorsed the $2,000 payments, more have opposed the idea. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn’t committed either way since Trump brought the issue up again. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to bring the bill up Tuesday, but a single senator could block it. The measure would need 60 votes to pass, and a roll call vote could take days to schedule. President-elect Joe Biden said Monday he supports the idea; President Trump didn’t say anything Monday. Schumer addressed the president anyway in a news conference. “Talking is not enough,” he told Trump. “Act. Get on the phone and get those Republicans in the Senate to support $2,000 in relief.”

Any bets on the final results?

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Closing Thought–28Dec20

During this pandemic many Americans as well as the rest of the world has been struggling to make ends meet…..our government sent checks out to many Americans as an assistance as well as many for profit corporations got cash…..something I did not…but why would the government subsidize a sports team during the pandemic?

I know WTF?

Yep the government sent funds to a hockey team….

The Pittsburgh Penguins, an NHL team valued at $650 million, received a $4.82 million loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, part of the CARES Act passed at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Larry Brooks at the New York Post, the hockey team was the only one of the 123 teams that make up the Big Four North American Men’s Sports Leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL) to get a loan from the aid program, which was supposed to help small businesses keep employees on the payroll.

Stim Bill Hits A Snag

But looks like it may be a good snag.

I was planning to focus on presidential pardon stuff today but this development is too important to pass on…..

We all have heard about the President playing politics about people should get $2000 in their forthcoming checks…..Trump decided that he would veto the spending bill because there were no checks for us mere mortals……well all that changed over the weekend….

After a delay of nearly a week, President Trump on Sunday night backed down, as many had begged him to do, and signed the COVID relief bill. That means the government won’t shut down, as would have happened had he not signed by Monday night, Politico reports. It also means Americans will start getting their relief checks—the $600 figure that Trump was not happy about—but CNBC reports that the House is voting to increase that figure to the $2,000 Trump wants, and Trump said Sunday night that the Senate will be voting on that as well. CNN accuses Trump of causing “chaos” with his delay, since unemployment aid lapsed before he signed. Trump was also not happy with what he called “pork” in the $1.4 trillion government funding bill that was passed alongside the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill, a point he addressed in a statement released Sunday night.

“I will sign the Omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed. I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill,” the statement says (Politico notes Congress does not need to abide by that request). “On Monday the House will vote to increase payments to individuals from $600 to $2,000,” the statement continues. “Additionally, Congress has promised that Section 230, which so unfairly benefits Big Tech at the expense of the American people, will be reviewed and either be terminated or substantially reformed. Likewise, the House and Senate have agreed to focus strongly on the very substantial voter fraud which took place in the November 3 Presidential election. The Senate will start the process for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeals Section 230, and starts an investigation into voter fraud.”

A bit of compromise…..something that is in short supply….but I do not trust the Congress to do the right thing or even the honest thing.

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Trump’s Final Days

In less than 30 days we will have a new president and the one heading out the door has doing all he can to make his remaining time be productive for his days out of the White House.

First he has made a comment about the new stim package…well part of the stim package that is…..the package calls for %600 per the people and Trump thinks it should be higher…..

President Trump has a complaint—and some of his fiercest critics are on his side this time. In video posted to Twitter Tuesday, the POTUS called the $600 figure arrived at by Congress for round two of coronavirus stimulus money “ridiculously low,” calling on lawmakers to bump it up to $2,000. The Washington Post reports Trump suggested he would not sign the legislation without changes, and Fox News reports that Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Bernie Sanders were on board with that idea. Pelosi said “Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent,” while AOC said the amendment for $2,000 checks is “ready to go” and could be passed this week “if the Senate GOP agrees to stand down.” Sanders called on Trump to “get Mitch McConnell and your Republican friends to stop opposing it.”

Of course, that wasn’t Trump’s only complaint: He also slammed the bill as a “disgrace” full of “wasteful spending,” specifically calling out many line items. “It’s called the COVID relief bill but it has almost nothing to do with COVID,” he said. But, as PolitiFact explains, Congress actually passed a spending package: the $900 billion relief bill, plus a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill, which is where the funding for things like the arts and money for other countries comes in. Even so, others on the right were also none too happy: Trump “is right,” tweeted Sen. Josh Hawley. “[W]orkers deserve much more than $600, as I have repeatedly said & fought for. And there’s obviously plenty of $$ to do it – look at what Congress threw away on corporate giveaways & foreign buyouts.” The Post says congressional aides, as well as Trump’s own aides, were “stunned” at Trump’s video, which sent stock market futures down, particularly since they’ve been telling the media he would sign the bill.

I agree with Trump on this…..the cash is a joke….the waste of dollars for crap like Israel etc.

We all have been waiting for Donald the Orange to use his “mighty” pen and pardon all those people that would benefit him…..

President Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, including Republican allies, a 2016 campaign official ensnared in the Russia probe, and former government contractors convicted in a massacre in Iraq. The pardons included former Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, the AP reports. Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump to be president, was sentenced to two years and two months in federal prison after admitting he helped his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company had failed. Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing campaign funds and spending the money on everything from outings with friends to his daughter’s birthday party. He was due to start serving the sentence next month.

Trump also pardoned former Rep. Steve Stockman, who started serving a 10-year sentence for crimes including fraud and money laundering in 2018, reports the New York Times. Trump also announced pardons for George Papadopoulos, his 2016 campaign adviser whose conversation unwittingly helped trigger the Russia investigation, and attorney Alex van der Zwaan, the first person convicted in the Mueller probe. In the group announced Tuesday night were four former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more a dozen Iraqi civilians dead and caused an international uproar over the use of private security guards in a war zone. Supporters of the former Blackwater contractors had lobbied for pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished.

There is so much that needs doing before he leaves for the wilds of Mar-A-Logo…

For President Trump and his supporters, it’s another example of fake news. But a slew of reports about the White House paints a picture of a president pondering radical action over the next month in an attempt to stay in office. Days ago, reports circulated about Trump floating the idea of declaring martial law and having the military seize voting machines, a story Trump himself disavowed. But the reports keep coming. Coverage:

  • “We cannot stress enough how unnerved Trump officials are by the conversations unfolding inside the White House,” writes Jonathan Swan at Axios. He reports that Trump has lashed out against nearly everyone in his orbit, including Mike Pence, because he perceives them as weak for not fighting hard enough for him. “Top officials are trying to stay away from the West Wing right now,” writes Swan.
  • The Washington Post reports that the president is increasingly surrounding himself with a “ragtag group of conspiracy theorists, media-hungry lawyers and other political misfits” for the homestretch. The story quotes an unnamed senior administration official: “He is grasping at straws. If you come in and tell him he lost, and that it’s over, he doesn’t want to hear from you. He is looking for people to tell him what he wants to hear.”
  • At the conservative National Review, Jim Geraghty says it’s vital to keep Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell away from Trump because they’re feeding him fringe views. Flynn, for example, has publicly encouraged the use of martial law, suggesting it’s not such a big deal. But Geraghty notes that while state and local governments have declared martial law after riots or disasters dozens of times, the last time the federal government did so was after the Pearl Harbor attack.
  • CNN has a scathing analysis by Stephen Collinson, who warns that “dead-end loyalists” are steering Trump wrong. “No one is sure where this is heading,” one unnamed official tells the outlet. “He’s still president for another month.” ABC News has a story by Ben Gittleson, who writes that Trump “is spending his dwindling days in office entertaining increasingly desperate, last-ditch schemes to overturn the results of the presidential election.”
  • Meanwhile, Politico reports that Trump met at the White House Monday to strategize with House conservatives on a long-shot challenge Jan. 6 when Congress meets to certify the Electoral College results. Rep. Mo Brooks says “dozens” of House Republicans and “multiple” senators are on board, though John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, predicted the effort is going down “like a shot dog,” per the Hill.

Can this really end in 30 days or so?

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The Day Of The Longest Bill

WE have a new bill for stim to relieve the problems that the pandemic have caused…..and believe it or not this bill has 5,593 pages….money for the Air Force and Navy….money for the government to prevent a shutdown just before Christmas break…..oh yeah crumbs for us peons.

Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Lawmakers tacked on a $1.4 trillion catchall spending bill and thousands of pages of other end-of-session business in a massive bundle of bipartisan legislation as Capitol Hill prepared to close the books on the year. The bill approved Monday night went to President Trump for his signature, which was expected in the coming days, the AP reports. The relief package, unveiled Monday afternoon, sped through the House and Senate in a matter of hours. The Senate cleared the massive package by a 92-6 vote after the House approved the COVID-19 package by another lopsided vote, 359-53.

The bill combines coronavirus-fighting funds with financial relief for individuals and businesses. It would establish a temporary $300 per week supplemental jobless benefit and a $600 direct stimulus payment to most Americans, along with a new round of subsidies for hard-hit businesses, restaurants, and theaters and money for schools, health care providers and renters facing eviction. The 5,593-page legislation—by far the longest bill ever—came together Sunday after months of battling, posturing and postelection negotiating that reined in a number of Democratic demands as the end of the congressional session approached. Congress also approved a one-week stopgap spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown at midnight and give Trump time to sign the sweeping legislation.

In case you do not have the time to read the Russian novel that is the Covid relief bill let me break it down for you…..

the new COVID relief bill includes: – $4’000’000’000 for navy weapons – $2’000’000’000 for air force missiles – $500’000’000 for israel – tax breaks if you own a race horse – $600 for you

Glad to see that Israel gets their pound of American flesh……and that the war machine will not suffer….god forbid that the cash be spent where it is needed….on the American people.

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Another Inadequate Stim Package

It is reported that Congress has reached a deal for the next round of stim payments…….I do not think it will do much to avoid the coming doom for many American families.

What will this stim package be?

Congressional leaders announced Sunday that a COVID relief bill is in the bag, the New York Times reports. “We can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time: More help is on the way,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell. With just hours left before the feds ran out of money, the House and Senate came to terms on a $900 billion stimulus package that will include direct payments along with support for schools, hospitals, businesses, and vaccine distribution. Once on paper, the agreement will be fused with a bigger spending measure to keep America running for the rest of the fiscal year. Cost: $2.3 trillion.

Sources tell the Washington Post that many Americans will receive $600 stimulus checks, but the number will be lower for those who banked over $75,000 the preceding year—a similar arrangement to the last stimulus checks. Looks like Congress will also continue unemployment benefits reaching up to $300 per week, possibly starting Dec. 27. Final numbers are yet to come, and McConnell said lawmakers just need to “promptly finalize text” as they “avoid any last-minute obstacles.”

Sorry but that $600 will do little to calm the nerves of the people……

Democratic and Republican congressional leaders late Sunday reached an agreement on a roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief package that would send $600 direct payments to many Americans, boost unemployment benefits by $300 per week, and provide billions of dollars in funding for vaccine distribution, rental assistance, and other programs.

Announcing the deal on the Senate floor Sunday evening, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—who has repeatedly stonewalled additional relief since the summer, when he said he had “not yet felt the urgency” of passing more aid—declared, “We can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time: More help is on the way.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/20/600-not-enough-say-progressives-congressional-leaders-reach-covid-relief-deal

Progressives fought for a better deal for the people….but as usual they we silenced by the spineless Centrists…..I agree with Bernie on this situation……

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday took to the Senate floor to once again make the case for sending another round of $1,200 stimulus checks to working-class Americans, denouncing as “unconscionable” the fact that U.S. billionaires have seen their wealth grow by $1 trillion during nine months of crisis while ordinary people have received just one direct payment from Congress.

“One trillion dollars for billionaires. One $1,200 check for the working class,” said the Vermont senator. “That is immoral and that has got to change.”

Following Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) unsuccessful effort earlier Friday, Sanders requested unanimous consent to pass legislation that would provide $1,200 direct payments to U.S. adults and $500 to children, a relief proposal modeled after the stimulus checks provided under the CARES Act.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/18/after-billionaires-gained-1-trillion-wealth-says-sanders-it-not-radical-demand-more

The day after Christmas is not looking bright or promising for the masses of Americans struggling to survive day to day.

The package, which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called a “strong shot in the arm,” does nowhere near enough to make whole the over 10 million people who have lost their jobs since March and the millions whose hours or wages have been reduced.

The bill does not provide health insurance for the estimated 15 million who have lost it during the pandemic. It will not house the over 162,000 who have been evicted during the pandemic, nor does it provide enough money to cover the nearly $6,000 in average back rent owed by some 12 million people, according to Moody’s analytics.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/21/stim-d21.html

It equals a band-aid for a gun shot wound.

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Will There Be Checks?

That is the important question people ask when they hear that a new stim plan is on the horizon.

Most of us mere mortals have suffered more than most from the economic results from the pandemic……what is needed is cash.

The first stim check helped somewhat…..and after a couple of other stim plans….cash has been slowly coming from Congress while cash for those already rolling in money came easily.

It has been a long time coming….and what are the real chances?

It looks like Congress is on track to reach a deal on a COVID stimulus package before the end of the week, one that would include relief checks for Americans, though at a smaller amount than the first ones of $1,200. Coverage:

  • Key numbers: Most Americans are expected to get checks of $600, reports CNN. The unemployed would get an additional $300 per week in benefits as part of the $900 billion measure. Democrats and Republicans continue to wrangle over the aid amounts, however.
  • Georgia factor: Republicans initially balked at a second round of relief checks, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his GOP colleagues in a conference call that the two Republican senators in Georgia’s upcoming runoff races were getting “hammered” on the issue, reports Politico. The races will decide who controls the Senate next year.
  • A concession: McConnell also has budged on a key concession—the GOP will no longer insist on liability protections for business owners whose employees contract the coronavirus. McConnell once called this a “red line,” but he relented when a bipartisan group of senators began pushing for a deal, writes David Leonhardt in the New York Times. “It’s possible this bipartisan deal will end up being a one-time event,” adds Leonhardt. “But it doesn’t have to be. Senators have it within their power to find other areas of compromise next year, during Joe Biden’s presidency—even if McConnell does not favor those deals.”
  • On the other hand: McConnell is still getting most of what he wanted in the emerging deal, reports the Hill. That includes the removal of a large pool of new funding for state and local governments dealing with pandemic-related shortfalls. The AP puts the amount at about $160 billion. “It’s heartbreaking for us,” says Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, referring to his home state.
  • Other help: The package is expected to include money for renters facing eviction, food aid, and farm subsidies, per the AP. The Postal Service may get a $10 billion bailout.

But the checks are not in the mail–yet while you await the decision of Congress here are a few thoughts about stim checks…..

In the blink of an eye, the stimulus package now being negotiated among top US lawmakers (they even have a nickname, “The Four Corners”) went from having no second stimulus check to another direct payment. This time, it could come in at half of the $1,200 sent as part of the CARES Act. The whispers we’ve heard so far suggest the second stimulus check could give you a maximum of either $600 or $700, a rate that reflects the relatively smaller size of the $900 billion stimulus proposal. (The CARES Act cost $2.2 trillion.)

This is the latest in a string of murmured changes to a second stimulus check. Various proposals since May have shifted one qualification or another in ways that could potentially bring a household more money than the first stimulus check. 

Remember, not everyone is guaranteed the full $1,200. And there’s actually quite a complex formula that determines how much money you got in your final check based on your AGI and the number of eligible child dependents in your household. (It gets even trickier when you consider child support situations.)

https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/new-stimulus-check-600-vs-700-vs-1200-every-way-your-final-payment-could-change/

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The New Stim Plan

First I would like to apologize for I try to avoid as much of the news of the day as I can on weekends….I feel we already get mind numbing repartitions that I can take a break…..then occasionally there is a report that needs immediate attention…and this is one of those issues.

Congress has been working (I use the term loosely) on the plan for more pandemic economic stimulus……first it looks good….then it does not appear there will be a deal….and that is where we are today…..

An emerging $900 billion COVID-19 aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers has all but collapsed after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republican senators won’t support $160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal. McConnell’s staff conveyed to top negotiators Thursday that the GOP leader sees no path to an agreement on a key aspect of the lawmakers’ existing proposal—a slimmed-down version of the liability shield he is seeking for companies and organizations facing potential COVID-19 lawsuits—in exchange for the state and local funds that Democrats want, the AP reports. The GOP leader criticized “controversial state bailouts” during a speech in the Senate. He insisted on a more targeted aid package.

The hardened stance from McConnell creates a new stalemate over the $900-billion-plus package, despite days of toiling by a bipartisan group of lawmakers to strike a compromise. Other legislative pile-ups now threaten Friday’s related business—a must-pass government funding bill. If it doesn’t clear Congress, that would trigger a federal government shutdown on Saturday. The breakdown over the COVID aid package, after days of behind-the-scenes talks by a group of lawmakers fed up with inaction, comes as President Trump has taken the talks in another direction—insisting on a fresh round of $600 stimulus checks for Americans. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinm Trump’s top negotiator on COVID-19 financial aid, reported headway Thursday before the package from the bipartisan senators’ group fell apart.

Just what I would expect from the Senate….after all they are the large do-nothing branch of our government.

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“lego ergo scribo”

New Covid Stim

It has been months since the last Covid stim package….McConnell wanted to wait until after the election and the hope that Trump would win re-election…..that plan did not work out….so now the gutless GOP has a plan for more funds to help out during the pandemic….but who will they help the most?

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is issuing an outline of the latest COVID-19 relief plan.

The legislation would provide additional funding for coronavirus liability relief, unemployment assistance, and the Paycheck Protection Program under small businesses.

But here is what is in this newest plan to save the nation from economic ruin during the pandemic…

  • It would set enhanced federal unemployment insurance at 70% of a worker’s previous wages, replacing the $600 per week which states stopped paying out this week.
  • The GOP would set the benefit at a sum of $200 per week on top of what recipients would normally receive from states through September, slashing what they got from April through July. In October, the 70% replacement would take effect up to a maximum of $500 per week.
  • The proposal would send direct payments of $1,200 and $2,400 to individuals and couples, respectively. It would set the same qualifications as the checks approved in March: the payments started to phase out at an average of $75,000 in income per person, and individuals or couples making an average of $99,000 or more did not receive one. It would offer an additional $500 per dependent of any age.
  • The legislation would shield entities such as businesses, doctors and schools from lawsuits, except for cases of “gross negligence” or “willful misconduct.” 
  • It would set aside $190 billion for Paycheck Protection Program loans. The bill would allow small businesses with fewer than 300 employees that have seen revenue fall by more than 50% to apply for a second round of aid. It would also authorize $100 billion for loans to seasonal businesses and companies in low-income Census tracts that can show revenue reduction of more than 50%. 
  • The bill provides $105 billion to help schools reopen in the fall. Roughly $30 billion of that amount would go to colleges, according to Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. Most of the money would go to schools physically reopening to help them with the costs associated with safely restarting. 
  • It includes $16 billion to help states boost Covid-19 testing capacity, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. 
  • Shelby said it would put $26 billion toward the development of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics. 
  • The plan includes 100% deductability of business meals, according to Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. 
  • It includes several tax credits, including an enhanced employee retention credit and a credit for expenses such as upgrades to workplaces and testing that help businesses operate safely. 
  • The bill also authorizes an unrelated $1.75 billion for construction of a new FBI headquarters building in downtown Washington D.C., a short walk from President Donald Trump’s hotel. His company worried plans to demolish the FBI’s current home, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, and move headquarters to the suburbs could allow a competitor hotel to move downtown, according to The Washington Post.

Now the president-elect has done what I thought he would do….jumped on the bandwagon for this stim plan…..

President-elect Joe Biden swung behind a bipartisan COVID-19 relief effort Wednesday and his top Capitol Hill allies cut their demands for a $2 trillion-plus measure by more than half in hopes of breaking a monthslong logjam and delivering much-sought aid as the congressional session speeds to a close. Biden said the developing aid package “wouldn’t be the answer, but it would be the immediate help for a lot of things,” the AP reports. He wants a relief bill to pass Congress now, with more aid to come next year. Biden’s remarks followed an announcement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer of New York in support of an almost $1 trillion approach as the “basis” for discussions. The announcement appeared aimed at budging Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who so far has been unwilling to abandon a $550 billion Senate GOP plan that has failed twice this fall.

The Democrats embraced a $908 billion approach from moderate Sens. Joe Manchin and Susan Collins among others. It would establish a $300 per week jobless benefit, send $160 billion to help state and local governments, boost schools and universities, revive popular “paycheck protection” subsidies for businesses, and bail out transit systems and airlines. “In the spirit of compromise we believe the bipartisan framework introduced by Senators yesterday should be used as the basis for immediate bipartisan, bicameral negotiations,” Pelosi and Schumer said. McConnell wouldn’t respond when asked about the Democratic statement. His top deputy, Sen. John Thune, said GOP leaders might agree to merging the bipartisan proposal with McConnell’s bill.

What will this do to help the average person?

Just who will this save from economic ruin?

Of course I have an answer for my reader…..

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday began circulating a coronavirus relief proposal whose contents offer so little assistance to the tens of millions of jobless, hungry, and eviction-prone Americans that critics warned the Kentucky Republican is actively working to ensure the U.S. economy remains mired in deep recession as Biden administration takes charge next month.

Described as a “targeted” relief proposal, McConnell’s plan is heavily geared toward providing corporations with immunity from coronavirus-related lawsuits; the offer includes a liability shield that Public Citizen’s Remington Gregg described as “breathtakingly broad.” The Kentucky Republican’s plan also contains a 100% tax deduction for business meals.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/02/critics-smell-economic-sabotage-mcconnell-unveils-covid-plan-0-unemployment-boost

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