Saturday, December 26, 2020

A Ridiculous Relief Package: Trump Right to Criticize the 5,593-page COVID-19 Relief Boondoggle; How Congress Can Give Americans $2K Relief Checks and Cut Omnibus Pork to Pay for It, and related stories

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
A ridiculous relief package: Trump right to criticize the 5,593-page COVID-19 relief boondoggle:
The Kennedy Center ($40 million), gender programs in Pakistan ($25 million), military assistance for Egypt ($1.3 billion), stimulus checks for the family members of illegal immigrants ($1,800 each). In the 5,593 pages of the new coronavirus relief package, you will find these allocations and much more absurdity yet. As President Trump, speaking Tuesday night, noted, “it’s called the COVID Relief Bill, but it has almost nothing to do with COVID.”
Mr. Trump implicitly threatened a veto unless Congress goes back to the drawing board and excises the incredible and, in these desperate times, immoral amounts of pork. As he should.
What the president demanded, besides getting rid of the excess fat, was an increase in stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple, and additional relief for restaurant owners. For the millions of Americans on the brink of collapse, this, not billions in aid to foreign countries and wealthy lobbyists, is what’s needed. --->READ MORE HERE
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
How Congress Can Give Americans $2K Relief Checks and Cut Omnibus Pork to Pay for It:
President Donald Trump has urged Congress to increase the amount of the direct relief payments to Americans to $2,000 by cutting out the unrelated pork in the coronavirus rescue package and government spending bill. Breitbart News has calculated how much that increase would cost and what could be cut from the 5,593-page omnibus bill to offset it.
The House and Senate passed the combined $900 billion coronavirus relief package and $1.4 trillion government spending bill on Monday night, but the massive 5,593-page omnibus bill immediately drew criticism for sending billions of dollars of aid to foreign countries while only allotting $600 relief checks for Americans.
Populists on the right and left, led by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), argued that sending direct coronavirus relief checks to Americans provides the easiest and most equitable way to get funding to where it can have the most impact in helping people get through the pandemic.
Trump’s call to increase direct payments to $2,000 has bridged the partisan divide in Washington, receiving agreement from Hawley and Sanders, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). However, some Republicans have blocked the effort to amend the bill, worrying about the increase in spending for Americans despite the billions of dollars of foreign aid included in the bill. --->READ MORE HERE
Follow links below to related stories/opinions:

Porkulus

The Only Thing Missing From This Absolute Cluster of a 'COVID Relief' Bill Is $ for Shrimp on a Treadmill. Trump Should Veto It

Despite Handing $700 Million to Sudan, Romney Says Bigger Stimulus Checks Are Too Expensive: 'We Can't Just Have Free Money'

Trump Veto Of Defense Spending Bill And Blue State ‘COVID’ Bailout Is 100 Percent On Brand

Trump vetoes defense bill, cites failure to address legal protections for Big Tech

Christmas Eve $2,000 stimulus check push fizzles out in the House

Christmas chaos: Lawmakers block competing bills amid Trump threat to reject COVID-19 aid

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