Politics Random, Random

[ponchi101]

If the GOP is able to implement all the voting suppressing laws they are trying to get through, his role will be crucial. No GOP'er will dare cross him and with those laws they have good chances.
America will only be safe if the Big Macs, diet Cokes and fries do their job. Otherwise, expect the same nightmare in 2024.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

And now is when that 6-3 SCOTUS comes in really handy.

[ti-amie]

This headline, while technically correct, in my opinion should read "The Democratic Led Congress Has Pased the $1.9 trillion Stimulus Package". The way it's written makes it seem as if the GOP had something to do with the bill's passage.

Congress adopts $1.9 trillion stimulus, securing first major win for Biden
A House vote Wednesday sends the bill to President Biden, who is expected to sign Friday, the White House said.

By Tony Romm
March 10, 2021 at 3:33 p.m. EST

Congress approved a sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Wednesday, authorizing a flurry of new federal spending and a temporary yet dramatic increase in anti-poverty programs to help millions of families still struggling amid the pandemic.

The 220-211 vote in the House of Representatives almost (?) entirely along party lines now sends to Biden’s desk one of the largest economic rescue packages in U.S. history, which Democrats had promised to pass as one of their first acts of governance after securing narrow but potent majorities in Washington during the 2020 presidential election.

The bill, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, authorizes another round of stimulus payments up to $1,400 for most Americans, extends additional, enhanced unemployment aid to millions still out of a job, and makes major changes to the tax code to benefit families with children. It couples the new pandemic relief with what Democrats have come to describe as one of the most robust legislative responses to poverty in a generation, seeking to assist low-income families who struggled financially long before the coronavirus took root.

Lawmakers also set aside tens of billions of dollars to fund coronavirus testing, contact tracing and vaccine deployment, as they aim to deliver on Biden’s recent promise to produce enough inoculations for “every adult in America” by the end of May. And the stimulus bill approves additional funds to help schools reopen, allow restaurants and businesses to stay afloat and assist state and local governments trying to meet their own financial needs.

“The Biden American Rescue Plan is about the children, their health, their education, [and] the economic security of their families,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) just before lawmakers gave the bill a final green light, prompting cheers among Democrats gathered in the chamber. “This legislation is one of the most transformative and historic bills any of us will ever have an opportunity to support."

Republicans banded together in opposition on Wednesday, much as they had voted against an earlier version of the proposal in the House last month and the Senate bill’s over this weekend. The GOP approach evinced the tough political climate that Biden is likely to face even after preaching political unity upon taking office. Partisan tensions now threaten to overshadow his expected work in the coming months to shepherd major new investments in infrastructure, overhaul the immigration system and rethink other elements of the U.S. tax code.

(...)

The bill now heads to Biden, who is expected to sign it Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. The signing comes a day after the president is set to deliver his first prime-time television address on the country’s response to the coronavirus. Wall Street appeared to acknowledge the news, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average continued to climb, and was about 529 points by the early afternoon.

“For weeks now, an overwhelming percentage of Americans – Democrats, Independents, and Republicans – have made it clear they support the American Rescue Plan. Today, with final passage in the House of Representatives, their voice has been heard,” Biden said in a statement.

“This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance,” he added.

With the American Rescue Plan, lawmakers adopted their sixth major coronavirus relief package since the deadly pandemic first encroached on the country roughly a year ago. The sheer vastness of aid Congress has adopted to date reflects the contagion’s toll, with 29 million cases, more than 527,000 deaths, and deep economic scars, including 10 million fewer jobs than at the start of the crisis.

(...)

The newly adopted law includes another round of $1,400 stimulus checks, which Biden and his top aides have said should reach a large number of Americans by the end of the month. Democratic leaders pledged to authorize the aid in the final days of the 2020 campaign, seizing on the highly popular idea to give them an electoral boost in Georgia, where they picked up two Senate seats and ultimately took control of the chamber.

With unemployment, millions of Americans who were set to lose benefits in a matter of days now will received continued, enhanced federal payments of an extra $300 each week until early September. Many workers who collect unemployment also are set to receive a tax break on those benefits.

And the new stimulus includes a dramatic expansion of the child tax credit, for the first time seeking to pay out periodic, perhaps monthly, benefits to families with kids. Biden and his congressional Democratic allies have estimated the changes to law could cut child poverty by up to half.

The bill authorizes a wide variety of additional aid, including a $5 billion expansion to federal programs that help Americans afford food in the pandemic and a $7 billion effort to help students obtain internet access. In total, it includes $1.8 billion in federal spending and is expected to add $1.85 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years, according to a congressional estimate.

Democrats did not get everything they initially sought. An earlier version of the stimulus, which passed the House last month, coupled the aid with the first increase in the federal minimum wage in decades. The idea died in the Senate, where moderate Democrats ultimately proved unwilling to support the aggressive procedural maneuvering that would have been required to raise the hourly rate.

Only one Democrat voted against the measure: Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, who has said the party should have focused on a more narrow measure targeting vaccine funding. In a statement describing his vote, he said that the Senate’s changes did not assuage his concerns while removing elements he did support, including the increase to the minimum wage.

“Democrats made a choice. A choice to put their own partisan political ambitions ahead of the needs of the working class, ahead of the needs of the American people,” said Rep. Jason Smith (D-Mo.) (sic), the top Republican on the House’s budget panel, ahead of the vote. “When our Democratic colleagues speak of unity, they mean keeping their party together, not keeping this country together.”

But Democrats countered that the absence of GOP support -- after lawmakers crossed the aisle to approve prior stimulus packages -- reflected the party’s own political calculations.

“There’s only one thing that’s changed since we passed those first five bills,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). “The need is there, the virus is still with us, the economy is struggle, but now we have a Democratic president.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-polic ... ef-checks/

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

They are not even trying to hide it. Many of them claim they don't want to be a new Venezuela, but want the Venezuelan system 100%.

[JazzNU]

I'm not sure about Venezuela. I think they are trying for the South African system.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

They're calling the Stimulus checks "Biden bucks". They're calling them "Kamala Kash". Some banks are like

[JazzNU]

I have zero knowledge of what it is like to bank with Chime and CashApp, didn't even know that was possible with the latter, but talk about a great promo for them.

[ponchi101]

I would also like to ask the doubters: what is YOUR solution? What do YOU propose to avoid millions of people from going bankrupt, millions of people from facing real financial consequences?
What do those people say?

[ti-amie]

I bet the banks are accepting the cash downloads and making money from them before letting the commoners have access to the funds. I never heard of Chime before and the less said the better about Cash App.

[JazzNU]

Chime has commercials or I never would've heard of them either. You know the banks are trying to make as much interest as possible on the billions hitting their bank before it is withdrawn.