Republicans Abandon Americans in Need by Opposing $2,000 Stimulus Checks
By: Darren Richardson
Tags: Politics, Congress, Stimulus Check, Economy, Covid 19

Republicans Abandon Americans in Need by Opposing $2,000 Stimulus Checks

Republicans are turning against President Trump and abandoning common sense by opposing the $2,000 stimulus checks, and people are going to suffer because of it. (Photo by Steve Knutson on Unsplash)

Sometimes an idea so practical and helpful comes along that the legislation falls right into place, the president signs the bill into law, and the American people are well-served by a federal government working as designed.

Sometimes, but not this holiday season.

Rather than deliver much-needed financial help to tens of millions of taxpaying citizens who have been repeatedly battered by the economic devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans in Congress are stepping in to make sure that the pain persists for the poor, middle class and small business owners across the country.

It’s worth noting that many of these same Republicans, who represent congressional districts and states walloped by coronavirus-related closures and layoffs, voted enthusiastically for $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans back in 2017.

But now, unwilling to take a much smaller step to help ease the monetary trauma of what has been the most difficult economic climate since the Great Depression, they trot out old, pathetic talking points about how giving handouts to help people eat in hard times de-incentivizes work.

They never miss a chance to harp on how government helping people when they’re down is an awful thing.

Recovery obstructionists justify their cruelty with sermonizing

To hear these shameless functionaries for the super-rich tell it, lending a helping hand to people in need is much worse than letting those same people go to bed hungry and unable to pay rent, hoping and praying for rest and restoration while simultaneously plagued by the thought that tomorrow could be the day it all falls apart and they find themselves out on the streets.

As men, women and children struggle with the basics of day-to-day survival, austerity ideologues loyal to the fat cats who fund their deceptive campaigns eat three full meals each day, snack on whatever they damn well please and justify their inaction by insisting they want their constituents to learn and practice personal responsibility. They are hypocrites of the highest order.

Not only that, these out-of-touch Republicans are behaving this way at a time when state and local governments are enacting increasingly restrictive rules to combat the spread of COVID-19. It’s almost as if they would rather see the United States fall apart than spend what it takes to keep our nation together so it’s prepared to fight the good fight once again after the pandemic has passed.

Through no fault of their own, people are unable to work as more restrictions intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are enacted. (Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)

Republicans are blowing their chance to win back the House in ‘22

Conventional wisdom going into the 2020 election was that the Democrats would pick up at least a few seats to pad their majority in the House of Representatives. Conventional wisdom was wrong; it was the Republicans who gained seats, even though the Democrats retained control.

If Republicans continue to block the financial assistance most Americans need, they will squander their so-called political capital and momentum from 2020 even before the 117th Congress convenes in January.

By blocking common-sense financial aid in the form of a $2,000 stimulus check — an amount that both President Donald Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi have endorsed — these Republican legislators are brazenly revealing their servitude to the wealthiest of the wealthy while simultaneously dismissing the plight of untold millions as not worthy of their time or attention.

Pelosi is absolutely right in getting these recovery obstructionists on record with a vote Monday. A vote against the $2,000 stimulus can and will be held against them when they run for re-election. A recent poll showed that 76% of all voters thought the next stimulus payment should be greater than the $600 negotiators had agreed upon before Trump rightly called that amount “a disgrace.”

Stimulus money would rapidly find its way back into the U.S. economy, bolstering the recovery. (Photo by Blogging Guide on Unsplash)

Stimulus money would promote economic recovery

It’s not as if the money sent to the citizenry via stimulus checks is going to end up in offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. No, that would be a sizeable chunk of the money the super-rich are now able to stash away because of the 2017 tax cuts.

By contrast, the stimulus money would find its way back into the U.S. economy in a matter of days or weeks as people buy food and medicine, gas up their cars and pay bills for essential services. A stimulus check of at least $2,000 would promote a faster recovery by helping people maintain precious continuity-of-livelihood in these disruptive times.

This much is understood by people across the political spectrum.

You would be hard-pressed to find two politicians as far apart on most issues as independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.

Yet Sanders and Hawley, like Trump and Pelosi, agree that the American people deserve an economic stimulus worthy of the name — a $2,000 payment to every eligible citizen. That ought to tell those in the Republican Party who continue to spurn Americans in need a thing or two about the public pulse.

Every legislator who opposes a $2,000 stimulus check is putting a big “Vote Me Out” sign on his or her back, and voters will be happy to oblige the next time these self-serving charlatans are up for re-election.

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