"Republicans move mountains for corporations and special interests, but when it comes to helping workers their message is clear: you're on your own."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the Hart Building on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Sen. Ron Wyden excoriated his Republican colleagues in a floor speech Thursday as they prepared to skip town for the weekend without finalizing a plan to extend the $600-per-week boost in unemployment benefits set to expire in just two days, leaving 30 million Americans without a key financial lifeline.
"The lapse that is being forced on this country right now is because Senate Republicans would not step up. The lapse is going to lead to evictions, it's going to lead to hunger, it's going to lead to desperation for millions."
—Sen. Ron Wyden
"Here's the message that I think the folks who are walking on an economic tightrope this weekend need to hear: On this side of the aisle, we've been ready to go for weeks, essentially months," Wyden said, referring to Senate Democrats. "As of this afternoon, with benefits expiring in two days, the other side of the aisle has no piece of legislation on offer."
"They write lots of bills to help multinational corporations, lots of bills to help the powerful and the special interests," said the Oregon Democrat. "But as of this afternoon, there is not a bill to help those folks who this weekend are going to be saying, 'We're not going to be able to make rent in a few days, we're not going to be able to feed our families, not going to be able to pay for the car insurance.'"
Wyden, one of the architects of the $600-per-week unemployment insurance boost, introduced legislation with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on July 1 to extend the enhanced payments until a state's average unemployment rate falls below 11% over a period of three months. The benefit would then be reduced by $100 for every percentage point the unemployment rate falls until it dips below 6%.
Instead of negotiating with Senate Democrats over the unemployment benefits in the weeks before expiration of the $600 weekly payments, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "actively gave short shrift to the needs of the unemployed," said Wyden.
As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, McConnell laughed off the possibility of passing coronavirus relief legislation by the end of next week. The last unemployment check with the $600 boost is set to go out on Saturday in 49 states and Sunday in New York.
"The pain that working families have this weekend didn't have to happen," the Oregon Democrat said. "The lapse that is being forced on this country right now is because Senate Republicans would not step up... The lapse is going to lead to evictions, it's going to lead to hunger, it's going to lead to desperation for millions of Americans."
Senate Republicans are about to leave town for the weekend and 30 million Americans are just days away from losing their income. Republicans move mountains for corporations and special interests, but when it comes to helping workers their message is clear: you're on your own. pic.twitter.com/imW7TL2X5z
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) July 23, 2020
Senate Republicans were expected to release their coronavirus stimulus package Thursday but were forced to delay the bill until Monday amid intraparty disagreements over key issues, including what to do about the enhanced unemployment benefits.
"Mnuchin and President Trump have said publicly that they want to have the new payments replace roughly '70 percent' of a worker's prior income," the Washington Post reported Friday. "Republican lawmakers have discussed extending the flat payment at about $200-per-week instead of $600 to give the states time to adjust to the new formula and system as part of this plan."
Josh Bivens, research director at the Economic Policy Institute, estimated in a blog post Friday that "reducing the enhanced unemployment payments would strip away enough aggregate demand from the economy to slow growth in gross domestic product (GDP) by 3.7% over the next year."
"This slower growth would result in 5.1 million fewer jobs created over the next year," Bivens warned. "The big constraint on economic growth right now is the spread of the coronavirus. If we allow the $600 supplement to lapse, another huge constraint on growth will be imposed—collapsing incomes for the tens of millions of U.S. families that had to rely on these benefits in recent month
GOP Coronavirus Relief Package to Include Romney Bill That Would 'Fast-Track Social Security and Medicare Cuts'
"They will use every opportunity and every crisis—including the mass death and economic carnage from Covid—as cover for their sick desire to destroy our Social Security system."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) speaks to reporters as he arrives for the Senate Republicans' weekly lunch on Tuesday, June 9, 2020. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Shortly after publicly ditching one attack on Social Security—the payroll tax cut—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell confirmed Thursday that the Republican coronavirus relief package will include legislation sponsored by Sen. Mitt Romney that one advocacy group described as an "equally menacing" threat to the New Deal program.
In a speech on the Senate floor, McConnell touted Romney's TRUST ACT as "a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Senate Democrats, to help a future Congress evaluate bipartisan proposals for protecting and strengthening the programs that Americans count on."
"In the midst of a catastrophic pandemic, they should be focused on protecting seniors, essential workers, and the unemployed. Instead, they are plotting to use the cover of the pandemic to slash Social Security."
—Nancy Altman, Social Security Works
Ostensibly an effort to "rescue" America's trust fund programs, Romney's bill—first introduced last October with the backing of three Democratic senators—would initiate a secretive process that could result in cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, a longtime objective of lawmakers like the Utah Republican.
Romney celebrated the inclusion of his bill Thursday and pointed to statements praising the legislation from a slew of right-wing advocacy groups, including the Koch-funded organization Americans for Prosperity.
The Utah Republican's bill currently has 13 Senate co-sponsors, five of whom are members of the Democratic caucus. Last month, as Common Dreams reported, 30 House Democrats joined 30 of their Republican colleagues in endorsing the TRUST Act.
"Donald Trump and his stooges in the Senate can't stop trying to rob us of our Social Security," Alex Lawson, executive director of advocacy group Social Security Works, told Common Dreams in response to McConnell's remarks. "They will use every opportunity and every crisis—including the mass death and economic carnage from Covid—as cover for their sick desire to destroy our Social Security system."
If passed, Romney's bill would give the Treasury Department 45 days to deliver a report to Congress on America's "endangered" trust funds. Congress would then set up one "rescue committee" per trust fund with a mandate to craft legislation that—in the words of Romney's office—"restores solvency and otherwise improves each trust fund program."
Legislation proposed by the committees would receive expedited consideration in the House and Senate—meaning no amendments would be permitted. Any bill would still need 60 votes to clear the upper chamber.
"This would allow benefit cuts to be fast-tracked through Congress," said Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. "Seniors and people with disabilities need their benefits boosted, not slashed. Like payroll tax cuts, the TRUST Act is bad medicine for everyday Americans struggling to stay financially afloat, especially during the Covid crisis."
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, warned the TRUST ACT is "a way to undermine the economic security of Americans without political accountability."
"Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and all congressional Republicans have made their priorities clear," said Altman. "In the midst of a catastrophic pandemic, they should be focused on protecting seniors, essential workers, and the unemployed. Instead, they are plotting to use the cover of the pandemic to slash Social Security."
"Democrats must stand united," Altman continued, "and unequivocally reject any package that includes the TRUST Act."
BREAKING: Republicans ARE INCLUDING the TRUST Act in their COVID package.
The TRUST Act creates a closed door commission to fast track Social Security and Medicare cuts.
Democrats must stand united against this attack on our earned benefits. https://t.co/lSrcKjZcCW
— SocialSecurityWorks (@SSWorks) July 23, 2020
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee and co-sponsor of legislation that would expand benefits, called Romney's TRUST Act "a direct assault on Social Security" that must be opposed.
"During a pandemic, people are relying on Social Security now more than ever," Larson said in a statement Thursday. "These are Americans' earned benefits. Cutting them will only further hurt the economy."
As part of their effort to hold Republican lawmakers accountable for pushing Social Security cuts, Social Security Works and Tax March on Thursday launched mobile billboards targeting GOP senators in Iowa, Maine, Arizona, and North Carolina.
We’re in Maine with @taxmarch sending @SenSusanCollins a message:
Hands off Social Security, No Payroll Tax Cut! pic.twitter.com/QoEbFzBW9q
— SocialSecurityWorks (@SSWorks) July 23, 2020
"Senate Republicans are rubber stamps who are happy to raid our Social Security system to please Trump," said Lawson. "We say to both Trump and Senate Republicans: Hands off our earned benefits!"
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) speaks to reporters as he arrives for the Senate Republicans' weekly lunch on Tuesday, June 9, 2020. (Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
Shortly after publicly ditching one attack on Social Security—the payroll tax cut—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell confirmed Thursday that the Republican coronavirus relief package will include legislation sponsored by Sen. Mitt Romney that one advocacy group described as an "equally menacing" threat to the New Deal program.
In a speech on the Senate floor, McConnell touted Romney's TRUST ACT as "a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Senate Democrats, to help a future Congress evaluate bipartisan proposals for protecting and strengthening the programs that Americans count on."
"In the midst of a catastrophic pandemic, they should be focused on protecting seniors, essential workers, and the unemployed. Instead, they are plotting to use the cover of the pandemic to slash Social Security."
—Nancy Altman, Social Security Works
Ostensibly an effort to "rescue" America's trust fund programs, Romney's bill—first introduced last October with the backing of three Democratic senators—would initiate a secretive process that could result in cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, a longtime objective of lawmakers like the Utah Republican.
Romney celebrated the inclusion of his bill Thursday and pointed to statements praising the legislation from a slew of right-wing advocacy groups, including the Koch-funded organization Americans for Prosperity.
The Utah Republican's bill currently has 13 Senate co-sponsors, five of whom are members of the Democratic caucus. Last month, as Common Dreams reported, 30 House Democrats joined 30 of their Republican colleagues in endorsing the TRUST Act.
"Donald Trump and his stooges in the Senate can't stop trying to rob us of our Social Security," Alex Lawson, executive director of advocacy group Social Security Works, told Common Dreams in response to McConnell's remarks. "They will use every opportunity and every crisis—including the mass death and economic carnage from Covid—as cover for their sick desire to destroy our Social Security system."
If passed, Romney's bill would give the Treasury Department 45 days to deliver a report to Congress on America's "endangered" trust funds. Congress would then set up one "rescue committee" per trust fund with a mandate to craft legislation that—in the words of Romney's office—"restores solvency and otherwise improves each trust fund program."
Legislation proposed by the committees would receive expedited consideration in the House and Senate—meaning no amendments would be permitted. Any bill would still need 60 votes to clear the upper chamber.
"This would allow benefit cuts to be fast-tracked through Congress," said Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. "Seniors and people with disabilities need their benefits boosted, not slashed. Like payroll tax cuts, the TRUST Act is bad medicine for everyday Americans struggling to stay financially afloat, especially during the Covid crisis."
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, warned the TRUST ACT is "a way to undermine the economic security of Americans without political accountability."
"Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and all congressional Republicans have made their priorities clear," said Altman. "In the midst of a catastrophic pandemic, they should be focused on protecting seniors, essential workers, and the unemployed. Instead, they are plotting to use the cover of the pandemic to slash Social Security."
"Democrats must stand united," Altman continued, "and unequivocally reject any package that includes the TRUST Act."
BREAKING: Republicans ARE INCLUDING the TRUST Act in their COVID package.
The TRUST Act creates a closed door commission to fast track Social Security and Medicare cuts.
Democrats must stand united against this attack on our earned benefits. https://t.co/lSrcKjZcCW
— SocialSecurityWorks (@SSWorks) July 23, 2020
Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee and co-sponsor of legislation that would expand benefits, called Romney's TRUST Act "a direct assault on Social Security" that must be opposed.
"During a pandemic, people are relying on Social Security now more than ever," Larson said in a statement Thursday. "These are Americans' earned benefits. Cutting them will only further hurt the economy."
As part of their effort to hold Republican lawmakers accountable for pushing Social Security cuts, Social Security Works and Tax March on Thursday launched mobile billboards targeting GOP senators in Iowa, Maine, Arizona, and North Carolina.
We’re in Maine with @taxmarch sending @SenSusanCollins a message:
Hands off Social Security, No Payroll Tax Cut! pic.twitter.com/QoEbFzBW9q
— SocialSecurityWorks (@SSWorks) July 23, 2020
"Senate Republicans are rubber stamps who are happy to raid our Social Security system to please Trump," said Lawson. "We say to both Trump and Senate Republicans: Hands off our earned benefits!"
Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 122k391
No comments:
Post a Comment