Defense Policy Bill Passed. Why Not a Comprehensive Stimulus Bill Too?
By: Prince George
Tags: Covid 19, Inequality, Pandemic, Stimulus, Politics

Steven Depolo | Kedm.org

On Tuesday, 8th December, 2020, the House overpoweringly passed the $741 billion defense policy bill with a veto-proof bipartisan majority of 335–78 which made it out of the reach of Trump’s wacky and weird veto threat (which always is, anyways). Even if Trump tries to veto the vote, the House would be in a position to override it. When I read the report about the vote in the New York Times, I felt extremely pleased about the prospect of bipartisanship returning to American polity regarding matters of national interests. I even started dreaming of this kind of unity among the Republicans and the Democrats extending into the future too, which can guide the nation to greater heights of growth and prosperity. To me the positive vote seemed an even greater achievement, especially when I read about the prerequisite in the bill to strip all the Confederate names from American military bases. To me, it seemed like a bold step to renounce the racially exclusionary past of America. It can have positive ramifications into making it a more inclusionary, more equal and a complete nation. But, then reality dawned on me. The thought of the inordinate delay by the Republican majority Senate and the White House in coming out with a comprehensive and effective plan to reduce our pain from the pandemic and from the economic downturn knocked me off the realm of my dream to the harsh reality of today’s America.

The number of people receiving unemployment benefits declined to 5.5 million from its peak of nearly 23 million in May, 2020, but it could surge again as the pandemic is surging again across the country. When CBS News tweeted the video of thousands of cars lining up to collect food in Dallas, Texas, but it was hardly indicative of the plight of nearly 26 million food insecure Americans, a figure, unheard in the richest country in the world for a long long time. 1 in 8 Americans didn’t have enough food on Thanksgiving day in 2020. In all probability, Christmas is going to be the worst in history too, if the government doesn’t act soon. It is estimated that twelve million Americans will owe an average of $5,850 in back rent and utilities by January, 2021 and will be at the risk of getting evicted in the middle of the harsh winter. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses and restaurants have shut down and many more who have run out of Paycheck Protection Program funds are about to close their shutters soon. Above all, people are fleeced by the private healthcare providers in the absence of a much needed free healthcare program for the COVID-19 patients.

But, post the election, the White House has gone into hibernation and has ditched all efforts to bring a fiscal stimulus package to help the ailing people and economy. It is as if the President is on a witch hunt. He didn’t bend even when the pandemic surged, forcing many states to adopt harsher measures which will increase the suffering of the people. Finally as a bipartisan agreement for a $908bn plan is being reached, the White House has slashed funding for federal unemployment benefits from $180bn to $40bn and has included only a very insufficient $300 cheque per person per week for four more months. Still there is uncertainty about passing of the stimulus and if they fail to reach a deal on time, the eviction moratorium will expire, pushing millions of families on to the streets and 12 million people could lose their unemployment benefits, pushing them into abject misery.

It is in this context we should be very very concerned when researchers from five major universities in the US have concluded that the lifting of eviction moratoriums by 27 states between March and September 2020 led to 433,700 excess infections and an estimated 10,700 excess deaths. It seems that when it comes to the suffering of people, bipartisanship evaporates, probably because there is no interest in it for corporate America, like it has in the defense policy bill. The $741 billion defense policy bill allocate $2 billion per day, and it gives a lot to the industry, but the stimulus for the middle class and the poor won’t fetch anything for them. Our representatives are not genuinely interested in American families and small businesses and communities any more. That is an extremely dangerous thing to happen in a democracy. Perhaps we should evaluate the humaneness of our representatives before we select them to represent us.

The steep fall from the cushioning comforts of a wishful dream to the depressing lows of painful reality is really hurtful. But, it’s absolutely okay to dream, right? For it is often the dreams that become reality.