Dems take pot shots at GOP COVID relief
Durbin decries abortion restrictions, Garcia says fighter jets ‘don’t help families pay their bills,’ Duckworth lobbies for HEROES Act
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin speaks out against a Republican proposal for a COVID-19 relief package. (Twitter/Senate Democrats)
By Ted Cox
Illinois congressional Democrats lined up to take pot shots at a Republican proposal for coronavirus relief dwarfed by a competing bill that has already passed the House.
U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia took issue with $686 million the GOP bill would allocate for F-35 fighter jets — again, in a package intended to provide relief to workers idled by the COVID-19 economic collapse, just as an additional $600 a week in unemployment benefits was set to expire.
“Last time I checked F-35s don't help families pay their bills,” Garcia tweeted Monday night.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi questioned $2 billion in the bill for a new FBI headquarters expected to personally benefit President Trump, as it would be located across Pennsylvania Avenue from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Democrats across the board dismissed Republican proposals to cut those additional unemployment benefits from $600 to $200 a week. That’s proportional with the size of the two proposals: the new Republican bill, unveiled Monday, is priced at $1 trillion, while the Democrats’ HEROES Act, which cleared the House in May, is estimated at $3 trillion, including aid to state and local governments to make up for lost tax revenue in the recession brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville tweeted: “The Senate bill fails in so many areas, including drastic cuts to unemployment insurance and no aid for state and local governments on the front lines of fighting this pandemic.”
“Let’s be clear,” tweeted U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, “Republicans refused to act for MONTHS on a COVID-19 bill. They wouldn't even vote on the HEROES Act” in the Senate. “It's unconscionable that they would now try to cut hundreds of dollars a week for working-class families who need it to put food on the table.” The $600 extra a week in benefits was set to expire at the end of this month on Friday.
Democrats were not mollified by Republican proposals to raise benefits to 70 percent of a worker’s previous pay — that is, if states can figure out how to process such a formula in their unemployment systems, which have already been hard-pressed to keep up with applications for benefits.
Blaming the rise in unemployment nationwide of the Republicans’ mismanagement of the pandemic, Duckworth added, “They also seem to think asking those who are still out of work … to take a 30 percent pay cut is an acceptable long-term solution. It isn’t.”
Duckworth also charged that language in the GOP bill “would gut disability rights at a time when these protections are needed as much as ever.”
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich told Democrats to “hold the line,” adding, “Don't compromise on any bill that cuts unemployment benefits for 25 million Americans by $400 a week.” He also pointed out the bill included no additional funding for the U.S. Postal Service — critical with the expected increase in mail-in ballots in the general election this fall.
Reich also pointed out the Republican bill removes liability for businesses in the spread of COVID-19, but does not fund additional personal protective equipment for medical workers, saying, “Rather than fund COVID-19 protective equipment for workers, GOP wants to protect corporations against COVID-19 lawsuits. Rather than provide $600 a week for jobless workers, GOP wants more billion-dollar bailouts for big corporations. Any doubt whose side GOP and Trump are on?”
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin echoed that, saying on the Senate floor: “The fact that Republicans are proposing five years of liability immunity for corporations while promising a few months of assistance for workers tells the whole story about priorities and values.”
Durbin also took issue with Republican plans to subsidize health insurance for laid-off and furloughed workers through the end of the year. As reasonable as that sounds, Durbin pointed out that Republicans inserted language adding “one condition: as long as the funds don’t help plans that cover abortions.” He explained: “Problem? This would disqualify most employer plans from the subsidy. According to Kaiser Family Foundation, only 10 percent of all forms of employer insurance exclude abortion coverage. We are in the midst of a global pandemic—now is not the time to be playing abortion politics.”
Both Durbin and Duckworth lobbied for the HEROES Act, with Duckworth saying, “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, bring the HEROES Act to the floor.”