Trump Fights the Democrats from the Left on Covid Relief Bill as Squad Fails Us On It
Tags: Covid 19, Democrats, Economics, Trump, Politics

Trump Fights the Democrats from the Left on Covid Relief Bill as Squad Fails Us On It Mcguiremitchell Dec 24, 2020·8 min read

Congress is committing political suicide over COVID relief, or rather the lack thereof. That, or we as a population really are as gullible and docile as they must assume us to be — and we will reelect politicians who think corporations deserve trillions in aid while average citizens should be given just the scraps. Then you have those saying they do want more relief for the average citizen, but they don’t want to fight for it because the GOP senate republicans might kill it. More over, this Covid Relief bill being packaged with other bills, and the complexity of it has drawn stark criticism for a variety of reasons relating to the confusion it has created.

As summarized by Govtrack.us,

This bill was originally introduced as the United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act. That text passed the House and Senate in late 2019 and early 2020 (but in non-identical forms). In December 2020, the text of the bill was replaced with the omnibus appropriations and coronavirus relief bill. The original United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act text was retained in Title XIX and passed along with the rest of the revised bill.

Somehow, what started as an economic trade partnership with Mexico evolved into the legislative host for not only the defense budget of 2021, but the covid relief package as well. This complexity has lead to some confusion and convoluted reporting. For example, many online were saying that the corona relief bill included half a billion dollars for Isreal, when really that was the NDAA which was packaged with the Corona relief bill — although there were 2 seperate votes, one with the full package, and one on the legislative cocktail without the NDAA.

To add to all that, Govtrack.us says that the bill is the 5th largest bill in US history, while AP says its “by far the longest bill ever”. Seem confusing? Alongside the media, even Trump is “conflating” the two, as NBC reported,

“In the four-minute video, Trump trashed the legislation for including, among other things, what he said was ‘$85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia; $134 million to Burma; $1.3 billion for Egypt and the Egyptian military, which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment; $25 million for democracy and gender programs in Pakistan; $505 million to Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Forty million for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which is not even open for business, $1 billion for the Smithsonian and an additional $154 million for the National Gallery of Art.’ All of those items were in the spending bill, not the Covid-19 bill, which Trump seemed to be conflating.”

Trump would go on to say that “This is far more than the Americans are given. Despite all of this wasteful spending,” To be fair, the two bills were bundled together in legislation. Thomas Massie would actually tweet on the matter- which he deems “legislative malpractice”:

Brad Polumbo would add,

After the Senate and House announced they had come to an agreement, which included a 600 dollar check to every person, Trump shot their hopes down by actually demanding congress do more for the people than the 600 dollar crumbs — given its been 8 months since the last relief bill. In a video posted to twitter, Trump stated

“I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 (direct payment) to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple. “I’m also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill, or else the next administration will have to deliver a Covid relief package…And maybe that administration will be me, and we will get it done.”

Disregarding that last statement, the point is he is right for pointing out that the American people are being failed and that congress can do better. A 2000 dollar one time payment is a compromise. Corporations might have been able to manage alright with their trillions of dollars, but small businesses and individuals are struggling despite the CARES act which Dore calls the largest upwards transfer of wealth in History. Ironically, Trump is the one having to push democrats to fight for just a step towards equitable distribution of government resources. Meanwhile, establishment-backed democrats like Klobuchar are on television saying its an assault on Americans,

This demand for $2000 being for the obvious welfare of people isn’t how the mainstream media frames it. Take this CNN quote from the recent article, “Trump throws Covid relief bill in doubt by asking Congress to amend it”

“Still, Trump’s message appeared to be greeted favorably by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who tweeted: “Republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the President wanted for direct checks.” “At last, the President has agreed to $2,000 — Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent,” she said. “Let’s do it!”

“At last”…because Trump has been the one preventing the democrats from bringing it to the floor right? A roll call, like you would normally a bill you want to actually reach the senate, right? No, you will introduce by unanimous consent, where the chances of actually succeeding in your proclaimed goal are reduced to a sliver? Wait, this just in, Breaking news:

Both the media and democrats pass off the blame to senate republicans, saying that they wont pass a 2000 direct stimulus payment and that they need to compromise with Senate republicans. House democrats began looking to propose a bill by Unanimous consent, to deal with the media pressure, although it was highly unlikely to pass, designed really for the illusion of effort.

“Democrats would try Thursday to pass a separate bill that would send out $2,000 direct payments. Because many members of the House are out of town, Hoyer said, leaders will try to pass the bill by unanimous consent, but that means any single member can kill it. The fate of such a bill is unclear in the Senate.”

“Before Trump spoke, all signs and expectations had been that he intended to sign the relief bill as soon as it lands on his desk, possibly later this week. White House aides, in fact, said as much. While Trump didn’t explicitly say he would veto the legislation, his remarks suggested that he might. If he does, lawmakers might be able to override his veto, but if he simply refuses to sign it, the bill might die.”

The bottom line is that while house democrats claim they wanted the 2000 dollar checks, they were willing to compromise to the republican senate and yield their power — refusing to put pressure on them — whereas Trump seems to be challenging the Senate and demanding they step up to the plate. While the mainstream media frames this as all the senate GOP’s fault, others accuse house democrats of weak advocacy and claim their actions betray their words.

Richard Medhurst posted a video of him tearing the squad to pieces for a minute and a half, which honestly inspired this piece. It would begin:

“The consolidated appropriations act is a senate amendment to the original house resolution 133 bill. There is some confusion about this because H.R.133 is also called the United States-Mexico Economic Partnership Act.”

Medhurst would then explain that there were two separate votes on the 21st.

“One of them was containing the amendment from the senate with divisions B, C, E, and F, and the other, without them. Divisions B, C, E, and F, this is stuff like the the defense budget, money for space force, all this nonsense.

The squad, Tulsi Gabbard, most democrats they voted against H.R.133 with divisions B, C, E, and F. Alright? That is house roll 250. However, in house roll 251..Every single goddamn democrat, except Rashida Tlaib and Tulsi Gabbard,voted for it.

Now you might think, ‘oh yeah, that’s great’. No — its not — because the $600 stimulus crap, all of the covid stuff, is not in those divisions, its in M and N. So they got rid of the pork and the spam, but they are still okay with giving you 600 dollars, After eight fucking months! After they spend weeks saying its not enough and blaming the republicans.”

Medhurst would go on to reference Omar’s recent tweet, published just days before the roll call votes, where she says “every member of congress should be shamed”, because a $600 check is embarrassing, and we see other countries with less money doing $2–3k.

“And then she goes and fucking votes for it anyway.” — Highlighting the discrepancy between her words and actions. What’s the point of standing for something if you won’t fight for it, at all?

As much as the democrats need senate republicans, senate republicans need the rest of congress. The Senate GOP uses its leverage, but where are the house democrats employing any leverage? Tweeting about the mean evil GOP doesn’t count.

Shifting targets, he would continue,

“And AOC, she put up this poll last week on twitter, about whether 600 was enough..and 95% said no. And then she said if ‘you don’t like that, you need to pressure your representatives, and tell them that.’ ”

At this point, his eyes went wide, mad with sanity in an insane world…He leans in the mic to say, “And then she fucking voted for it anyway”.

“The best part, they didn’t even read the fucking bill! The bill is 5000 pages long”

“She says ‘we dont have time to read it’, and she still fucking votes for it.”

“Look man, you are either corrupt, or you are an idiot. You cannot be doing this shit. Even if the bill was one goddamn page, it doesn’t contain enough relief for workers. This is insulting. They fucking knew that. They didn’t read it. And they voted for it anyway.

Then Trump, this clown, comes and “out-lefts” the democrats, and the progressives. He wants 2000 dollars. You know what the squad’s message is in 2020?

It’s ‘fuck you — no healthcare. We’re not forcing Pelosi’s hand.’ It’s ‘fuck you, there’s no Covid relief. Here, have some crumbs.’ And you think that’s okay. You’re a fucking cuck. I’m not even American, and I’m offended on your behalf. How the fuck are you not offended?

Regarding the collective $25 million bump for House representative salaries, Kyle Lacio would tweet,

Others would relate the Unanimous vote support from the squad to the #forcethevote issue on #M4A

It only makes sense to end this article by doing two things. 1. Stating the obvious — the current system isn’t working, and trying to reform the system while always “compromising”(again, a 2000 dollar one time check should and would be a compromise)is not working. We need to stop “compromising” and start forcing compromises. Because both parties are failing us, and these “compromises” have gotten us nowhere, and never will.

2. There are viable alternatives, but they won’t be talked about by the current politicians in congress. Maybe because part of seeking alternatives to this broken system is by replacing the current politicians. Parties even. It is no secret that both the GOP and DNC are corrupt corporate parties that do not have the interest of the people in mind, but rather that of special interests. If the banks or oil companies or other big corporations were in trouble, they would have gotten bailed out months ago…(Oh wait, they did). But here we are. Still waiting.