Democrats block coronavirus relief package a second time

By Dan McCaleb | The Center Square

For the second time in less than 24 hours, U.S. Senate Democrats blocked movement on a coronavirus relief plan that would funnel more than a trillion dollars to Americans and small businesses impacted by the pandemic.

The $1.3 trillion package includes funding for small businesses that have been forced to shutter, direct deposits to Americans and enhanced unemployment benefits to help boost an economy on the brink of collapse.

Democrats say there are not enough protections in the measure to guard against top business owners and operators from making millions off taxpayers backs.

On the Senate floor Monday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell scolded Democrats for not moving the package forward, saying there was still time to negotiate before a final vote occurs.

As tens of millions of Americans remain on lockdown over fears of the spread of coronavirus, Congress remains locked in a partisan dispute over a relief plan that Democrats say they didn’t have a hand in crafting.

The $1.3 trillion package will include funding for small businesses that have been forced to shutter, direct deposits to Americans and enhanced unemployment benefits to help boost an economy on the brink of collapse.

Democrats blocked that package late Sunday, saying the $500 billion meant for businesses didn’t contain enough restrictions to protect taxpayers. Democrats also accused Republicans of prioritizing corporations over workers.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was hopeful to advance the proposal, but the attempt failed in a 47-47 vote. Sixty votes were needed to move it along.

“I want everybody to fully understand if we aren’t able to act tomorrow, it will be because of our colleagues on the other side continuing to dicker when the country expects us to come together and address the problem,” McConnell said late Sunday.

President Donald Trump supports the package.

Image courtesy of John J. Meola/Wikimedia Commons

12 thoughts on “Democrats block coronavirus relief package a second time

  1. Filed under ‘How the sausage is made’…. here is an unverified (and, perhaps, partial) list of special interest allotments in the Democrat’s $2.5 Trillion version of the COVID-19 relief bill presented by Speaker Pelosi. This list was, ostensibly, obtained and reported by the Washington Times. I repeat, this is an unverified list and it remains to be seen what the final bill looks like.

    • Nullifies the White House executive orders on federal collective bargaining and codifies taxpayer-funded union official time.
    • Requires a labor union representative on every airline’s board of directors.
    • Multiemployer pension bailout lacking needed reforms.
    • Permanently raises the minimum wage to $15 for any business that receives federal aid for COVID-19.
    • Cancels all debt owed by the U.S. Postal Service to the Treasury.

    Under the heading “Green New Deal priorities”:
    • Requires all airlines that receive assistance to offset carbon emissions for domestic flights by 2025.
    • Includes a $1 billion “cash for clunkers” airplane program where the Transportation Department buys fuel-inefficient planes from airlines in exchange for agreeing to buy new ones.
    • Includes expansive new tax-credit for solar and wind energy.

    Under “Student Loan Forgiveness”:
    • $10,000 blanket loan forgiveness.

    Under “Federalizing Elections”:
    • Mandates how states must run elections, including the nationalization of ballot harvesting, requiring early voting, same day registration, and no-excuse vote by mail.
    • Puts states at risk of costly litigation if they are unable to implement these stringent mandates ahead of the 2020 election.

    Under “Immigration Provisions”:
    • Requires the Homeland Security Department to automatically extend visas and work authorizations expiring within the next year, including those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status, for an amount of time equal to their prior visa, authorization or status.
    • Limits Customs and Border Patrol’s ability to shutdown processing centers if there is a health crisis on the border and requires CBP to assure the timely adjudication of asylums applications.
    • Would allow certain funding to go to sanctuary cities.

    Under “Overreaching Mandates on Businesses”:
    • Permanent changes to who can serve on corporate boards of directors for companies that receive assistance for payroll and operating costs.
    • Mandatory disclosure on supply chain management.
    • Requires board diversity disclosure for all publicly traded companies.
    • Ban on all federal rulemaking including non-COVID 19 proposals (extends 30 days after emergency) “in an attempt to delay the current administration from promulgating actions House Democrats disagree with.”

    Under “New Permanent Mandates”:
    • Virtually rewrites the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program policy with no reference to COVID-19 and permanently disallows rulemaking pertaining to work requirements and eligibility.
    • Permanent expansion of Obamacare entitlement, “putting the American taxpayer on the hook for endless and unchecked health insurance spending and would remove all incentives for insurers to reduce the cost of health insurance.”

    • Synopsis:
      Chuckie Schumer, who had expressed delight over the bill previously, recanted and blocked it.

      Pelosi zoomed back to Washington from her week’s “recess” to submit her pork filled laundry list of additions compiled with the help of AOC and Squad.

      Any screaming should be directed at Sanders and that Leahy who should have long ago retired with his spoils. TERM LIMITS PLEASE!! If this latest round of votes demonstrates nothing else, it should make clear how little those whom we have sent to Washington care about the well being of their constituents.

  2. The America hater Pillousy showing her true colors yet again…
    If you didn’t hate the left before this should boil your blood…
    Assault Agenda over Americans…

    • VT’s finest Welch, Lahey & Sanders, part of the swamp are included.
      What piglosi wants via Welch, piglosi gets. Lahey also, what Chucky ants, Chucky gets. The people be damned. Don’t forget, VT has a swamp also. Do anything to get rid of Trump.

      Power and control and this virus is not to be wasted to get it. There is outside influences behind all this, ref Saul Alinsky and his rules, one being “Never Let A Crises Go To Waste”.

  3. Questions – what pray tell has the Green New Deal got to do with covid 19, what has jet aircraft emissions got to do with covid 19 plus a bunch of other stupid proposals?? If Pelosi and Shumer would stop trying to force their petty political agenda on the Senate by blocking our President from doing his job, the American peoplle would be better served. They must really hate the president to put their hateful vendetta ahead of the country’s best interests.

  4. Here we have a nation in a ” medical crisis” and Democrats want to try and slide
    the carbon agenda ” solar panels & Jet emissions ” into the funding bill !!

    I hope that Vermont’s Senators and our Congressman aren’t supporting this Liberal
    nonsense, but if they get on the pulpit and agree, then we need to make sure they
    are voted out of office.

    Vermonter’s wake up, you may die from this partisan non-sense, yes die they don’t
    care it’s all about the agenda to try and make the President look bad !!

  5. Anyone waiting around for a dinosaur politician to save them is in deep dodo. Is there a better example of term limits. Politicians amass huge amounts of money, get golden retirements and supposedly work for us. When TDHTF for the little people they argue over ideology and the democrats trying to fill the emergency funding with pork for their pet projects is purely shameful and should be remembered! Term limits. Nancy Pelosi is 79 years old and worth over 120 million dollars and that old is playing politics with the lives of Americans.

  6. The virus relief package was TWICE voted down, in the Senate, because Democrats were eager to get their laundry list, that had nothing to do with virus relief, into the Senate bill, including additional tax credits for solar panels and for wind turbines!!!!!

    ARE YOU KIDDING ME????
    YOU JUST CANNOT MAKE THIS UP

    Listen to McConnell’s speech
    https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/489040-tensions-boil-over-on-senate-floor-amid-coronavirus-debate

    The list includes at least 10 items.

    A Jimmy Hoffa tactic.

    The Democrat leadership did not want to “waste a good crisis” to get what it wanted.

    Now, while “Rome is burning”, Pelosi is going to take her sweet time to write her own House bill.

    • I looks like the Democrat leadership is committing suicide, by insisting on its partisan laundry list at a time of a grave national crisis, similar to 9/11 and the 2008 market meltdown.

      Democrats were less selfish THEN, but now they are pathologically full of hatred

      It looks like Democrat’s do not want Biden to be viable.

      Biden is a tottering old man, pushing 80, who cannot follow his own train of thought, whenever he makes a “speech”.

      He physically threatens people he disagrees with.

      Not very charming for an old man
      He is going to lead the US?
      ARE YOU JOKING?

  7. Unless the democrats are the ones that propose it and write it up they will deny it. They don’t think anyone else can come up with a great solution but themselves

    • Would not be the first time that they quashed one of their own propositions because passing it would make DJT look good.

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