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US Politics The Heroes Act (US Phase 4 Stimulus Package)


It seems more and more unlikely a final proposal will be agreed upon anytime soon between Republicans to allow negotiations to begin with Democrats in the Senate. The one positive thing, is the Republicans finally acknowledged today the direct checks have been tentatively agreed upon as the same as the CARES act, so that means $1,200 per person, $500 per dependent and the same income limits again. This is big news that the Republicans finally agreed on that portion as at least.
 
This is big news that the Republicans finally agreed on that portion as at least.

I'd hope the left leaners on the board take heart from Senate Reps being at odds with Trump and holding their ground. They aren't just blind followers.

From the article:


including how to extend unemployment benefits and White House requests for spending unrelated to the pandemic.


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Pork barreling, by the President. Not surprising, but sooo disappointing, especially after there was so much push back on Dems for putting monies in the earlier bills for non-virus related things. Furthermore, we should be cutting back on gov't, not growing it. There should be ample gov't buildings available to not need to give another to FBI (I seem to have missed that aspect in my quote, but that's part of what Trump asked for). Lol...later in the article it is revealed h

Even after President Trump folded on one of his key demands, for a payroll tax cut,


While I'm still employed and would have appreciated a payroll tax cut, I concede it is the WRONG effort at this point in time when so many are unemployed (ergo, no payroll to give a taxcut).

Talks had reached consensus on several other fronts, including dropping Mr. Trump’s proposed payroll tax cut — an idea that had little support in either party on Capitol Hill — and providing additional loans to help small businesses endure the crisis.


Sanity. Yay!

Lawmakers of both parties rejected the administration’s suggestion that Congress consider temporarily extending the enhanced unemployment insurance benefits and funding schools in a smaller bill while the larger stimulus package is hashed out.


Wut? Trump is pushing to extend the current UIB & fund schools (@Captain.Heroin) while congress (both sides) say no? To me, this actually would have made sense.

Seems Dems (Pelosi) don't want to piecemeal the bill, and want one bill to rule them all. Okay, that's their prerogative.[/xquote]


Props @Deru for keeping us informed.
 
They aren't just blind followers.
What changed that? Covid-19? I remember the Republican party becoming a team of sycophants who kiss up to Trump shortly after 2016. Maybe because it is 2020 they realize the act is about to become old/no longer relevant to garnering more political power.

we should be cutting back on gov't, not growing it. There should be ample gov't buildings available to not need to give another to FBI
Most Republicans are not going to think the way you do, namely because Trump thinks the old FBI building is dangerous (he said something about falling concrete). I'm glad you have an excellent brain - maybe you should run for congress? Please drain the swamp? :D

Wut? Trump is pushing to extend the current UIB & fund schools (@Captain.Heroin) while congress (both sides) say no? To me, this actually would have made sense.
The Republicans think the $600 per week is a disincentive to work, which is ridiculous. UE will run out. A resume building job experience is a better move in the long haul as an American worker. Most of us want a job - a better one, the same one, something with solid hours and decent pay.... and don't want to remain on UE. I can't imagine the Republicans removing UE after engineering a massive stock market drop for personal gain (sell shares prior to the crash, buy a greater number of shares while the prices is low, wait for market to rebound, sell high). It's inhumane.

Funding schools is the problem. It's a giant waste of money to pay for kids / families / entire school systems to get sick all in tandem while a pandemic is ongoing. How much can a child learn if they're hooked up to a ventilator, or their parents are sick? How well can they learn if there are cognitive deficits to covid-19 (it looks like this is a real concern for some cases) - how are sick families / sick parents good for families even if kids "Don't get sick and don't die"? Where's the guarantee? It is likely many kids have not been EXPOSED due to our hard work to shut down schools/economy to save lives - we are going into a very bleak and abysmal future that we don't have to enter. We have knowledge and science on our side.

If kids can't learn at home they're hopeless - that means they can't do homework prior/after covid-19 and aren't going to excel anyways. Make them learn from home for a while - how can that be harmful? Republicans are VILIFYING FAMILIES AND PARENTS, constantly talking about child abuse. The politicians must be evil to allow these TERRIBLE ABUSIVE PARENTS to raise children at all! MAYBE THE STATE SHOULD HAVE CUSTODY OF ALL CHILRDEN? Give me a break.

I believe most families and parents are good people. More kids will be in a detrimental position when their caretakers get sick than if "schools aren't reporting abuse". HOW DO THESE CHILDREN SURVIVE THE SUMMER WITH THEIR BLOODTHIRSTY ABUSIVE PARENTS? Give me a break! The Republicans act like a bunch of almost-dead terribly abused children FROM PIZZAGATE-LIKE AMERICAN FAMILIES need to be RESCUED!!! What???

This is bizarre and stupid. They mention "substance abuse" in kids WHERE DO YOU THINK THE KIDS ARE GETTING DRUGS? IF IT'S AT HOME, SCHOOL ISN'T TAKING AWAY THEIR FAMILY LIFE, AND IF IT'S SCHOOL, WELL THEN YOU'RE FINDING KIDS ARE GETTING HIGH BECAUSE YOU'RE GETTING THEM TOGETHER AND THAT'S HOW THEY'RE EVEN ABLE TO GET HIGH!

The SCHOOLS are the problem. The VIRUS is the problem. "Oh I have to teach my own kids?" CRY ME A RIVER! Why did you have kids and expect other people / society / the state to do the work? Why would you want to so QUICKLY relinquish control of your own family / child rearing to total strangers in an institutionalized school to prison pipeline?

The Republican talking points on re-opening school are RIDICULOUS and everyone knows it. No one is buying it.
 
Of course Senate Republicans had to change the name of their stimulus proposal to the HEALS Act after I made this thread specifically titled HEROS Act lol.

In all seriousness, here's an article about the most recent Senate Republicans' proposal:


McConnell unveils 'HEALS Act,' the GOP coronavirus stimulus proposal

The HEALS Act is more targeted than the CARES act, tailored to an economy that has “one foot in the pandemic and one foot in the recovery"
By Morgan Phillips | Fox News

Senate Republicans unveiled their version of a fresh round of coronavirus relief on Monday, as White House negotiators and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are set to meet in the evening to begin negotiations.

“So I hope this strong proposal will occasion a real response. Not partisan cheap shots. Not the predictable, tired, old rhetoric as though these were ordinary times and the nation could afford ordinary politics,” Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in unveiling the HEALS Act.

The $1 trillion Republican bill is the alternative to the House’s HEROES act, the $3 trillion relief legislation passed in May. HEALS stands for the package’s focus on Health, Economic Assistance, Liability protection, and Schools.

The HEALS Act is more targeted than the CARES act, tailored to an economy that has “one foot in the pandemic and one foot in the recovery,” according to McConnell.

The relief legislation includes $100 billion in school funding, more than the House offered in its proposal, with the goal of retrofitting schools and universities with coronavirus precautions to open for on-campus learning.

FISCAL CONSERVATIVES REVOLT OVER PRICETAG OF CORONAVIRUS RELIEF PACKAGE

It also includes a second round of stimulus checks at the same $1200 amount as in the CARES act, along with a “sequel” to the Paycheck Protection Program to mitigate layoffs.

Federal unemployment benefits would be extended, but at an additional $200 per week rather than the $600 that the CARES Act offered. That number would run through the first week of October, at which point states are supposed to bring a more complicated program online where those who are still unemployed can collect 70 percent of their former wages.

“The boosted unemployment benefit is significantly more than the Democratic Senate and President approved in the 2009 economic crisis, and it doesn’t pay most people more than working like the extra $600 does,” Sen. Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said.

McConnell noted that the additional $200 was still eight times the $25 per week in federal benefits offered following the 2008 recession.

Liability protections would be included for everyone from doctors and nurses, who will be protected from malpractice suits, to churches, charities, businesses and schools, McConnell noted. The hope is that the protections will encourage companies to reopen without fear that they will spend years in court.

The bill also includes $16 billion for Covid-19 testing and contact tracing: $20 billion for vaccine, therapeutic and diagnostic development; $20 billion for farmers and $30 billion to protect the military and defense industrial base from the virus.

McConnell delayed unveiling the legislation last week after he said the White House had requested more time to review it. Trump had long pushed for a payroll tax cut to spur hiring, but ultimately Republicans opted for direct stimulus payments instead.

The Democratic leader in the Senate, Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, blasted the legislation as “totally inadequate.”

“We've waited months for a Republican bill and still, the Republican response is totally inadequate,” the New York Democrat said on the Senate floor.

He criticized the Republican plan to offer the unemployed 70 percent of their former wages. “Republicans say take a 30 percent pay cut. Can you believe that? You lost your job, can't get to work, and now they want to take $1600 out of your pocket every month,” Schumer said.

McConnell urged Democrats to put aside their “socialist manifesto,” the HEROES Act, and come to the negotiating table.

“The Senate will not waste time with pointless partisanship,” the majority leader said. “There is a reason why even Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer themselves have publicly downplayed the multi-trillion-dollar socialist manifesto they published some weeks back, and have suggested the real, serious discussion would begin when Republicans released our outline.”

“Are we going to get the Democratic Party we got in March, when our colleagues met us in good-faith negotiations and worked with us to turn our framework into a bipartisan product?” McConnell continued.“Or will the country get the Democratic Party we saw in June, when our colleagues refused to suggest amendments or improvements to Senator Tim Scott’s police reform bill, and chose to block the issue altogether?”

He said Democrats’ failure to negotiate with Republicans on police reform left some wondering whether they had chosen to “give up on bipartisan legislation altogether through November.”
 
Seems Dems (Pelosi) don't want to piecemeal the bill, and want one bill to rule them all. Okay, that's their prerogative

This is one of my biggest concerns, McConnell barely has enough Senate Republicans behind him and thus my guess for piecemealing, and if Pelosi keeps pushing that agenda, we're never going to see any version of this stimulus bill signed into law before September.
 
I like how they shut down buisness and legally dont allow churches etc to open, but somehow prevention from law suits is supposed to help buisness reopen?

70% of income? Isnt that basically just regular unemployment for most folks? I have worked in tue bar / restauarant industry for years. I have read a few articles stating a large percentage of bars/restauarqnts will not reopen.

The real recession will not hit for a bit longer unless they do something. When it does though, bye bye america, hello post apocalyptic hellhole.

They better do better or perhaps we will see an #Antifa that actually goes after high value targets and the real assasinations will start.

Hungry hopeless people make great suicide/jihadi bombers
 
The Republicans think the $600 per week is a disincentive to work, which is ridiculous.

Two of my friends are specifically not working because they're making more not working than they were working, even though they can get their job back now. I agree with this particular point that is typically considered conservative. One of them is the drummer in my band, he is working under the table for someone else so he's making way more money than he ever has, but as much as it's nice for him to be able to pay off some of his debt, it's not the spirit in which this thing is supposed to be working. The other is my other friend, and he got offered his job back and said no because $600 a week is a lot more than he was making, so he just isn't working. He's hiking, hanging out with his roommates, playing video games, basically just doing whatever he wants and getting paid for it.

70% of income? Isnt that basically just regular unemployment for most folks?

Yeah, I believe it is just regular unemployment, but it will still be easier to get and not require seeking a job. I think they need to pay 100% of what people were making, no more, no less. 70% is going to cause a lot of people to be unable to pay rent or eat, because a lot of people barely make ends meet. Paying people twice as much as they made while working makes no sense, but paying 70% is not going to cut it for people without savings or disposable income.
 
Two of my friends are specifically not working because they're making more not working than they were working, even though they can get their job back now.
If they are not looking for work / not accepting full time work, I think that is a disqualification for UE but what do I know? Lying to the state for UE benefits is probably not worth it.

What do I know?

Most people I know - their jobs ARE NOT COMING BACK (gig economy, industries that were heavily face to face like entertainment, etc.) or they are looking for new jobs because old employers downsized.

I'm seriously not trying to be a bitch or rude but I think locally, you might find that narrative where you are; you won't where I am. I'm very thankful your friends could get their jobs back.

Considering many millions of Americans are unemployed, your friends are being foolish; if their jobs are replaced with other people before they get a chance to return to work, they might not get their old jobs back.
 
I don't think it's a good thing what my friends are doing, I'm just saying people are doing it. I'm using my friends as examples of people I know for a fact are doing it. I'm sure it's far from just my friends that are doing it though.

And no you don''t have to show proof of looking for work or even say you're looking for work to qualify for this special unemployment assistance, you just have to show proof you lost your job because of covid, and were working a certain amount within the past 2 fiscal quarters before this.

I absolutely think people should be getting 100% of what they were making before, I just don't think paying people more than what they were making is the best use of this money, or even wise. I also don't think people like me who are still working should be getting a $1200 stimulus check. We could do a lot more with the money we're spending if they distributed it more wisely. I know you've always expressed concern about deficit spending and we're adding a lot to the deficit, which we have no choice about, but we should be doing the best we can to make it worth it and not spend more than we need to. The biggest offense is that the majority of it has gone to large business bailouts and such, of course. But although I'll take the $1200 and be happy about it, I'd prefer if people like me didn't get it and people who have no income because of covid got more. And I'd prefer people continue making what they were making on unemployment, so that they can continue to sustain their life, but it makes no sense to me to pay people more than they were making.
 
I'm sure it's far from just my friends that are doing it though.

I know a lot of people who have been getting the unemployment insurance enhancement ($600/week) and are enjoying quite a big pay increase to stay at home and are actually doing everything they can to not go back to work, and that's exactly what McConnell is trying to avoid. There has to be literally zero incentive to want to stay unemployed, and that's where the 70% figure comes in. There's literally no possible way to create a mechanism to give 100% of pay to only unemployed people that can't go back to work because of their employer, it can't get that nuanced physically - most of these states could barely handle the CARES Act unemployment insurance enhancement with 40+ year old computer systems and technology.
 
I know a lot of people who have been getting the unemployment insurance enhancement ($600/week) and are enjoying quite a big pay increase to stay at home and are actually doing everything they can to not go back to work, and that's exactly what McConnell is trying to avoid. There has to be literally zero incentive to want to stay unemployed, and that's where the 70% figure comes in. There's literally no possible way to create a mechanism to give 100% of pay to only unemployed people that can't go back to work because of their employer, it can't get that nuanced physically - most of these states could barely handle the CARES Act unemployment insurance enhancement with 40+ year old computer systems and technology.

Right, it can't be enforced/checked. I'm not saying stay at 100% forever, but the fact is a lot of people can't work right now, even though a lot of people can, too. A lot of the time those people are barely scraping by on 100% of their wage, so cutting it to 70% is going to cause a lot of problems. it's not time for that yet especially since it's spiking harder than ever before since re-openings happened and were handled poorly and we are likely going to see lockdowns happening again.
 
I'd like to see them come up with a better mechanism to get people to go back to work with this one. $600/week on top of state unemployment benefits was a great way to do the exact opposite in the CAREs Act - that was a lot of money. Someone in my state was getting $1,000 week to stay home on unemployment, a lot making more than they would have had they been working full time. They got the $1,200 (or more depending on dependants) plus $9,600 for federal supplemantal unemployment benefits
So for once the government helped out instead of holding back.
 
A lot of the time those people are barely scraping by on 100% of their wage, so cutting it to 70% is going to cause a lot of problems

Agreed, my guess is McConnell is purposefully going low with the hopes of winding up at 100% after open negotiations with Democrats. The point of going low is to take going over 100% off the table completely. It's hard to argue why anyone should make more money on unemployment than they would if they were able to work full time, especially with the economy not fully closed and an emphasis on helping it open back up.

So for once the government helped out instead of holding back.

Yes, and for the CARES Act with the economy closed, it was definitely necessary and good to see everyone from across the aisles come together to make it happen. With the economy trying to open, for the HEROES/HEAL Act, it would be counter productive to allow anything over 100% pay for unemployment payments, in my opinion. The problem is close to 50% of Senate Republicans want no phase 4 stimulus, so it's going to be increasingly difficult.
 
I am just wondering, why we arent discussing the ever increasjng pay gap, and wondering "why did worker production rise so much, and pay decrease? What ever happejed to the gold standard"

I worked in restaurants. Cooks used to be an honored profession that paid nice wages.

What happend?

As long as this virus gives money for retard shit like testing for a fake virus plandemic, I will take some money please.

Otherwise #Antifa is gonna get a lot more members and as QAnon says

"These people wont be able to walk down the street"
 
The ever-increasing pay gap is a huge issue. What happened? Greed, greed, and greed. And greed. Did I mention greed? Same thing that always happens.

I'm gonna take the money too, but I still think it should be distributed in a better way that gives it to who actually needs it, and will lead to the best outcome in terms of economic recovery.
 
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