As the coronavirus spreads throughout our nation, wrecking havoc on our health and economy, Congress is scrambling to pass relief bills.
Last week I wrote about the first two bills that Congress has passed, and over the past several days, the Senate has been working on a third. This last one is primarily to mitigate what is clearly going to be an unprecedented disruption of business and jobs from the largest corporation to the smallest mom-and-pop store and everyone in between.
Last night, the negotiations in the Senate broke down entirely, as the Democrats were unwilling to allow the Republicans to give corporations big bailouts with little to no guardrails (like not being allowed to use the money to buy back stock, raise executive pay, or lay off workers) among other provisions. The negotiations ended with Mitch McConnell forcing a procedural vote to try and score some points that he can use for his re-election in November. I’m not kidding. Watch this terrific video from Senator Doug Jones (D-Alabama) for more details:
As it stands, because the Senate talks have stalled, Speaker Pelosi has said she’ll step up and write a bill. (Sometimes the Senate leads and other times the House. The most recent bill was negotiated by Pelosi and Secretary Steve Mnuchin.)
In addition to what Jones mentions in his video, we know that Pelosi is interested in seeing a “significant expansion of unemployment insurance, direct cash payments to Americans under a certain income threshold, funding for hospitals and medical supplies, and grants to keep small businesses from folding.” (Source)
What we all must do now is call our 2 Senators and 1 Representative and tell them that we demand that the economic stimulus bill MUST take care of American workers, and not be a Mitch McConnell slush fund for the big corporations.
Call them today –> How to Contact Congress
Thank you for taking action. Stay home and be healthy!
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