The Republican's Pathetic Stimulus Bill Is a Moral Outrage

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

19 December 20

ongress is getting close to passing a woefully insufficient Covid disaster relief bill. Here’s a brief breakdown of its highlights (or lowlights):

—The bill will only be $900 billion, a far cry from the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed at the start of the crisis — even though the pandemic is far worse now
—People below a certain income threshold will likely receive a one-time $600 or $700 check
—Unemployed Americans will receive an extra $300 a week in federal unemployment benefits, which will expire at the end of March 2021
—Republicans are seeking to prevent people receiving the expanded unemployment benefits from also receiving the paltry stimulus check, decrying it as a “double benefit”
—The bill will not include desperately needed aid to state and local governments, which Mitch McConnell has previously dismissed as a “blue state bailout”

There aren’t words to encapsulate what a disgrace the Republican Party is. A $600 check or $300 a week in unemployment benefits? Really? No money to keep nurses, firefighters, teachers, and state government employees employed during a national crisis? Republicans didn’t blink when they gave corporations a $500 billion blank check in March — but now that it’s time to help struggling Americans, suddenly it’s time to tighten the belt.

Republicans have outright abandoned their constituents. This pathetic stimulus bill is a moral outrage, and it should be treated as such.