#Biden #Pelosi #Schumer #VirusCasedemic #aid #relief #pork
“Democrat lawmakers are hoping The People’s attention has been occupied watching a made for TV show trial of President, because they have been loading up a $1.9-T budget reconciliation bill with special interest Pork and other liberal candy“– Paul Ebeling
The aid/relief/stimulus pending legislation is scheduled for a vote on the House floor at the end of this wk, includes, among other items, another round of direct payments to Americans, $25-B for emergency rental assistance, $10-B for the Defense Production Act to offset shortages of medical supplies and equipment, expanded and extended federal unemployment benefits, new financial support for parents, expanded tax credits for low-income workers without children, changes to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), relief for restaurants and bars, grants for venues, $7.5-B in funding for the CDC to track, administer and distribute COVID-19 vaccines and grants to state educational agencies and higher education institutions.
When we get to the subject of timely aid/relief and getting money to people that need it, getting money into vaccine distribution, getting shots into arms, there is little money in this bill that does that.
But House Speaker Pelosi (D:CA) and Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D:NY) have agreed to putting money out to foreign aid, to help vaccinate people in other countries. What they must to do is focus on helping US citizens that have been adversely impacted 1st.
A group of House Republicans unveiled a plan to rally public sentiment against the Democrats’ $1.9-T so-called novel coronavirus aid/relief idea, including highlighting all the left-wing items Democrats are hoping the public will not find about.
The goal is to bring up public feeling against the bill, and pressure moderate Democrats. With narrow majorities in both houses of Congress, Democratic leadership is using the reconciliation process, a parliamentary move, that would allow it to bypass the Senate’s filibuster procedure and require at least some Republican support. Now there is no GOP support for Mr. Biden’s idea. Plus, some Key Democrats are outspokenly against the legislation.
If all Republicans oppose, the GOP would only need 6 votes in the House or 1 in the Senate to scuttle the bill.
LTN economic advisor-contributor Bruce WD Barren took a quick look at the new $1.9T Stimulus Bill and here’s his comment: “When I was a young man, I had the opportunity to visit a pig farm in the upper mid-west. As I was enjoying the vastness of the farm, I remember its odd smell by commenting to the owner of the farm: Gee there is a lot of pork around here and my thoughts tended to gravitate to the new stimulus bill with a similar thought.
“Even The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Editorial Board smelt it as if the Pig Farm was reborn – alive and well where they estimated that only $825 billion was directly related to Covid-19 relief and $1 trillion was expansions of progressive programs, pork, and unrelated policy changes. For example, separately, WSJ’s auditors separately found that $470 million in the bill doubles the budgets of The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment of the Arts and the Humanities.
“In addition, they found that $200 million in the bill to The Institute of Museum and Library Services whose FY2019 budget was only $230 million but I guess the Arts are more important then putting food on the table for lower income families. However, this agency is so small that it doesn’t even employ an inspector general. But wait, another$270 million were funds for the National Endowment of the Arts and the Humanities yet their entire FY2019 budget was only $253 million. In 2017, the WSJ study showed eighty-percent of all non-profit grant making flowed to well-heeled organizations with over $1 million in assets.
“What was further buried was that a quick spotlight on agencies and entities receiving ‘coronavirus recovery’ money in the bill includes:$350 billion to bailout the 50 States and the District of Columbia. The allocation formula uses the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2020.
“Therefore, States like New York and California –who had strict economic lockdown policies and high unemployment plus highly questionable fiscal management practices– will get bailout money. States like Florida and South Dakota – who were open for business – will get less.
“Further, adding to the smell of the Farm was the fact that $128.5 billion to fund K-12 education. The CBO determined that most of the money in education will be distributed in 2022 through 2028, when the pandemic is over. Interesting?
“However, hold on – another $86 billion has been earmarked to save nearly 200 pension plans insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. There are no reforms mandated while these badly managed pensions are bailed-out. Many of these pension plans are co-managed by unions. Wait that is not all – $50 billion goes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). However, wait here comes the humanity provision – a portion of these funds is earmarked to reimburse up to $7,000 for funeral and burial costs related to Covid-19 deaths.
Now, let’s not forget the $39.6 billion to higher education (HED). This amount is three times the money – $12.5 billion – that HED received with the massive CARES Act funding from last March.
“Wait, another totally non-related expenditure – $1.5 billion for Amtrak – the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. In FY2020, Congress appropriated $3 billion for Amtrak ($2 billion in annual appropriations, plus an additional $1 billion in the CARES Act COVID relief bill). In the three years before the pandemic, AMTRAK lost $392 million – even after a $5 billion taxpayer subsidy (FY2017-FY2019).
“But here is one of the most interesting expenditures of all – $1.5 million earmarked for the Seaway International Bridge, which connects New York to Canada. Remember, good-old boy Senate Leader Chuck Schumer hails from New York.”
Now, tell me how the following are related to the Covid – 19 Pandemic:
- $50 million for “family planning” – going to non-profits, i.e. Planned Parenthood, or public entities, including for “services for adolescents[.]”
- $852 million for AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps Vista, and the National Senior Service Corps – the Corporation for National and Community Service – civic volunteer agencies. This includes $9 million for the AmeriCorp inspector general to conduct oversight and audits of the largess. AmeriCorps received a $1.1 billion FY2020 appropriation.
“So, I hope after reading my comments, everyone is enjoying their pork dinners for in this Bill there is a lot to go around. However, perhaps some members of Congress will learn that meat is much better than Pork and get out their carving knives and cut away some of the fat which should be better described as a Pig Bill, yet loosely described as a Stimulus! I guess Webster must had been sleeping when he put the word Stimulus in his Dictionary!”
Have a healthy day, Keep the Faith!
