Tag: stimulus

A “Slap in the Face:” Anger at Pelosi, Democrats Over Paltry $600 Stimulus Check

Lawmakers in Washington agreed to a new $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package yesterday. The bill, like the previous CARES Act, appears to include huge new tax breaks for corporations and the very wealthy. However, of most note to average Americans is the means-tested check of up to $600 plus $600 per child that Republicans and Democrats decided on.

Although far less than the $1,200 checks mailed out to Americans in the spring, Democratic lawmakers are presenting the deal as a triumph. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York described it as “a strong, strong shot in the arm to get things going.” Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi agreed, although she blamed the GOP for holding the agreement up. “What took so long is because we could not get our Republican colleagues to crush the virus…Why would they not want to invest in the science?” she said at a press conference on Sunday.

The bill also includes a $300 boost to federal unemployment benefits (half of what it was six months ago) and a pause on evictions for an unspecified length of time.

Despite senior Democrats’ spin, it appeared that the primary public reaction to the deal was one of anger, judging by comments on social media. “Congress just decided you get $600. Add that to the $1,200 from March, and it totals $6.69 a day since the country shut down in March. Both parties don’t care if we live or die or sleep in a box on a sidewalk in January,” said Professor Anthony Zenkus of the Columbia School of Social Work. “This country sucks,” and “Congress is laughing at the $600. They don’t give a shit about you,” were also popular refrains. Others described the $600 as “a slap in the face” rather than a shot in the arm.

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GOP/Democrat COVID-19 Package Bails Out Defense Contractors, Excludes Stimulus Checks for Americans

A COVID-19 relief package, reportedly negotiated between a handful of Senate Republicans and Democrats, includes a bailout for Defense Department contractors while excluding a second round of stimulus checks for Americans.

A draft of the relief package, obtained by The Daily Poster, reveals that the spending bill does not include a plan by Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to provide Americans with $1,200 stimulus checks but does provide a bailout for defense contractors.

Slipped into the package, seemingly on the final 525 pages, is an extension of a CARES Act provision that allows federal agencies to pay taxpayer money to defense contractors who are not working during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

“There are no direct payments for regular working people, people living off tips,” a congressional aide told Matt Taibbi, an independent journalist. “But they made sure there’s a provision in there to help defense contractors who aren’t working right now. They get what they’re looking for.”

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The French Laundry got more than $2.4M in PPP funding; 17x more than average Bay Area restaurants

The luxury restaurant where Governor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed were notoriously spotted dining during a COVID-19 surge, reportedly received millions in PPP funding.

Yountville’s highly acclaimed French Laundry received multiple loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, totaling more than $2.4 million, according to an ABC7 analysis of newly-released data from the Small Business Administration.

The French Laundry received two loans that were both approved on April 30, 2020. According to the SBA, the first loan was for more than $2.2 million to retain 163 employees. The second loan was for $194,656 to retain five employees.

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Joel Osteen’s Church Received $4.4 Million In PPP Stimulus Payments

Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church received a $4.4 million loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, as part of the federal CARES Act that was intended to be a stimulus to keep businesses and employees afloat while the pandemic kept everyone at home.

Churches were also eligible for the money, and some of the most prestigious churches in the country took advantage of the opportunity.

Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church was not on the initial list of recipients and claimed that they did not apply to receive any money. However, the church later applied and was granted $4.4 million, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Osteen himself is estimated to have a net worth of over $50 million, with his church taking in $43 million a year in collections.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders says Democrats delayed COVID-19 relief

Sen. Bernie Sanders admitted that fellow Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were responsible for delaying urgently needed coronavirus relief by walking away from the White House’s offer of a $1.8 trillion coronavirus package.

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Monday, the socialist two-time presidential candidate noted Pelosi’s hypocrisy in endorsing a smaller bipartisan $908 million deal last week after rejecting the twice-as-large proposal from President Trump in October.

“Democrats walked away from that deal because they wanted $2.2 trillion,” Tapper said.

“That’s right!” Sanders (I-Vt.) responded, confirming it was Democrats, not Republicans, who were to blame for months of inaction.

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Omar Husband’s Firm Received Half Million in COVID Bailouts

A political consulting firm co-owned by Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D., Minn.) husband, Tim Mynett, received more than half-a-million dollars in pandemic bailout cash—even as it was raking in millions from Omar’s campaign.

The E Street Group, a D.C.-based company run by Mynett and Will Hailer, received $134,800 in Paycheck Protection Program loans and $500,000 in Economic Injury Disaster loans, new data show. Both funds were established to help small businesses cope with the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mynett’s firm, whose LinkedIn page says it has between 11 and 50 employees, received the aid as it was being showered with cash from Omar’s campaign. Throughout the 2020 election cycle, Omar’s campaign steered nearly $3 million to the E Street Group to cover advertisements, consulting, travel expenses, and production costs. It was by far the campaign’s largest vendor.

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Joe Biden Exploring Ways to Tie Climate Change Legislation to Coronavirus Relief

Biden, whose environmental agenda is heavily influenced by the recommendations of a unity task force set up with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) after the Democrat primaries, has proposed spending $2 trillion over four years to combat climate change.

A major portion of the money will be used to create one million new jobs in the auto industry by boosting the production of energy-efficient vehicles. In order to achieve the goal, Biden is backing legislation, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), to incentivize individuals to trade in their gas-powered vehicles for ones running on either electricity or hydrogen.

The former vice president has also proposed to adopt a 100 percent clean-electricity standard by 2035. A similar idea was initially raised by Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) during his own ill-fated run for the Democrat nomination in 2019. If implemented, it would ensure that all electricity produced in the United States would be “carbon-free.

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House Democrats’ stimulus bill includes stimulus checks for illegal immigrants, protections from deportations

A stimulus package proposed by Democrats in the House of Representatives includes a number of items that will benefit illegal immigrants — including an expansion of stimulus checks and protections from deportations for illegal immigrants in certain “essential” jobs.

The $2.2 trillion bill includes language that allows some illegal immigrants — who are “engaged in essential critical infrastructure labor or services in the United States” —  to be placed into “a period of deferred action” and authorized to work if they meet certain conditions.

It also grants protections to those employers who hire those undocumented immigrants, ordering that “the hiring, employment or continued employment” of the defined group is not in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. That lasts until 90 days after the public health emergency is ended.

A Democratic description of that part of the bill says that “such workers are deemed to be in a period of deferred action and to be authorized for employment, and employers are shielded from certain immigration-related violations for employing such workers.”

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Seattle asks state to create $100 million coronavirus relief fund for undocumented immigrants

The Seattle City Council passed a resolution Monday asking Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington state lawmakers to help undocumented immigrants who have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.

The measure urges Inslee and the Legislature to create a “Washington Worker Relief Fund,” with an initial allocation of at least $100 million, “to provide emergency economic assistance to undocumented Washingtonians.” The vote was 9-0, and Mayor Jenny Durkan will add her signature.

The nonbinding resolution, a lobbying move that won’t change conditions on the ground in Seattle, also asks the state leaders to create a wage-replacement system for workers who don’t qualify for regular unemployment benefits.

Undocumented immigrants are barred from federal assistance, so they aren’t getting stimulus checks and they aren’t collecting unemployment benefits.

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