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House Republicans Circulating Playbook Outlining Pork in $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Bill

House Republicans Circulating Playbook Outlining Pork in $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Bill

Only $825 billion goes to actual COVID-related items. $1 trillion is for pork and pet projects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os_o3Jb2wts

Is anyone shocked the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill has little to do with the virus? These bills allow lawmakers to shove in pet projects and pork.

The Republican Study Committee (RSC), the largest Republican caucus in the House, wrote a playbook that outlines the hidden factors to inform the voters.

The COVID bill hands out:

  • $75 billion for medical supplies, testing, treatments, and vaccinations
  • $19 billion for public health: state health departments and community health centers
  • $7.2 billion for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
  • $15 billion for economic injury disaster loans
  • $26 billion to bars, live venues, and restaurants
  • $15 billion airlines payroll support

The bill also raises unemployment to $400 a week. This rewards 53% of Americans “for being unemployed” and can last for a year and a half.

The CBO predicts the unemployment changes could “increase deficits by $246 billion.” Plus, people staying unemployed for almost 16 months “could increase the unemployment rate as well as decrease labor force participation.”

Then there’s the $413 billion in relief checks. Democrats want to send “$1,400 per man, woman and dependent, that begins phasing out at $75,000 of individual income.”

So that’s $825 billion. Where’s the rest of the $1 trillion?

“Democrats have been hoping the public’s attention has been occupied watching a mad for TV show trial of the former president in the Senate because they’ve been trying to quietly load up a $1.9 trillion budget reconciliation bill with special interest pork and other liberal goodies,” wrote RSC Chairman Jim Banks (R-IN).

Banks encourages RSC members to circulate this playbook.

Jobs are the top issue, significantly raising the minimum wage to $15. The RSC described it as a job killer, hitting “younger Americans with less formal education” the hardest.  The Congressional Budget Office [CBO] estimates it could eliminate 1.4 million jobs.

The Democrats decided abortion, immigration, and China belonged in a bill meant to aid Americans:

Pro-Abortion
• Democrats blocked an amendment with Hyde language that would ensure that federal benefits used to pay for COBRA health insurance premiums are not used to provide abortion services.
• Maintains ability for Planned Parenthood to receive PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] funds.

Promotes Illegal Immigration
• Stimulus checks could go to families where a parent is an illegal immigrant.
• Allows subsidies paying for 85 percent of COBRA premiums to go to illegal immigrants.

Soft on China
• Allows funding to go to colleges that have partnerships with companies that are owned or controlled by communist China. Democrats rejected a GOP amendment to fix this.
• Allows funding to go to colleges and universities that have partnerships with Confucius Institutes.

The PPP mentioned above “provides loans to help businesses keep their workforce employed during the” COVID-19 pandemic. It also allows eligibility to some borrowers “for PPP loan forgiveness.”

Schools remaining closed has become a hot topic issue. President Joe Biden promised to open schools within his first 100 days. However, the bill gives schools incentive to remain closed because the government will provide them with “$130 billion on top of the $110 billion already given to schools, even if they remain closed.”

That PPP I talked about? Labor unions, including teachers, now have access to “funding worth up to $10 million per union.

The bill expands the PPP to cover “violent criminals, including those guilty of assault on a police officer and nonconsensual sexual crimes.”

Thus, the new guidelines for PPP push aside the small businesses that need funding. It also includes large nonprofits, “country clubs, fraternities and sororities and publicly-traded internet news organizations.”

You cannot have a Democrat bill without social justice (This section includes the PPP for violent criminals I already mentioned):

Left’s Social Justice Agenda
• Provides $50 million in funding for EPA environmental justice grants, a thinly-veiled kickback to leftist environmental groups.
• Extends PPP funds to violent criminals, including those guilty of assault on a police officer and nonconsensual sexual crimes.
• Expands Medicaid eligibility, for five years, to incarcerated individuals 30 days prior to their release.
• Prioritizes funding based on identity politics while ignoring rural businesses and communities.
• Gives billions in subsidies and loan forgiveness worth 120% of debt to farmers and ranchers on the basis of race and ethnicity.
• Gives $800 million in additional foreign food aid.

Let’s look at more useless items:

Budget-busting Spending
• Over $1 trillion remains unspent while Democrats push Biden’s $1.9 trillion budget-buster.
• Provides an additional $1.5 billion to Amtrak, which is already sitting on roughly $1 billion of unspent aid.
• Provides $30 Billion for transit grants, available through FY 2024, of which $26 billion (87%) would go to urban area transit entities. This almost three times the total annual outlays through the FTA.
• $8 billion in operating expense, debt payments, and development projects aid to largely urban airports, available through FY 2024.
• Provides a $350 billion bailout for state and local governments despite limited declines in overall revenue last year. Such funding effectively subsidizes unwarranted shutdowns that kills businesses and livelihoods.
• $3 billion in aid to supplement payroll costs for certain U.S. aircraft manufacturers.
• Democrats on the Education & Labor committee blocked an amendment that would have required agency Inspector Generals to audit and report on the use of COVID-19 funds.
• Congress provided $150 billion to the Coronavirus Relief Fund for state and local governments to cover pandemic-related expenses. It is unclear how much of the funds have been spent so far and whether the funds used met the letter of the law.

A Wall Street Journal editorial piece mentioned Sen. Chuck Schumer slipped in “$1.5 million for the Seaway International Bridge, which connects New York to Canada.” The spending includes $500 million for “grants to fund activities related to the arts, humanities, libraries and museums, and Native American language preservation.”

Last but not least, we have a welfare wishlist. This section includes more subsidies for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (IHEAP), steps closer to taking over the medical community, and more paid leave for federal employees:

Liberal Welfare Wishlist
• Incentivizes harmful Medicaid expansion by increasing newly expanded state’s base FMAP by five percentage points for two years. Not only does this hurt state budgets, it also brings our nation one step closer to a complete federal takeover of our health care sector.
• Increase the size of Obamacare premium tax credits for existing beneficiaries.
• Effectively place an excise tax on everyday Americans’ pharmaceutical purchases by removing the Medicaid AMP rebate cap, which could create instances where drug manufacturers are paying Medicaid to supply drugs.
• Expands Medicaid eligibility, for five years, to incarcerated individuals 30 days prior to their release and to women for 12 months postpartum, an unrelated provision that should be considered on its own merits.
• Provides additional subsidies for LIHEAP ($4.5 billion), a program ripe with fraud, waste, and abuse, that President Trump even sought to eliminate.
• Extends 15 percent increase in SNAP funding through the rest of FY 2021.
• Provides nearly $600 million for additional paid leave for federal employees and postal workers.
• Would increase the Child Tax Credit (CTC) by $1,000 per child over 5 and $1,600 per child under 6. For 2021, the credit would be fully refundable. Would double the maximum EITC benefit to workers with no dependents.
• Would increase, by 20%, the maximum amount of federally subsidized wages for paid leave. Would allow self-employed people to claim up to 60 days annually worth of federally subsidized paid leave.
• Removes state matching requirement for the Child Care Entitlement to States (CCES) grant program, along with an almost 20% increase in funding for this program.
• Would, effectively, implement the Democratic Butch Lewis taxpayer bailout of pensions plan.

Relief Package by J.B.

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Comments

In this case, the “bailouts” are actually bailing water into the boat. Taking Everitt Dirkson’s quote and making it up to date…. “a trillion here … a trillion there.. pretty soon you are talking about real money.” But it isn’t real anymore.

The best advice… learn from those that survived through hyperinflation.

Taxpayers are no longer represented by elected officials.

Taxpayers are treated just as any “interest group”. Problem is that most people don’t know that. They believe the principle that this country was founded upon – “no taxation without representation” actually still applies. It hasn’t for at least 20 years. It used to be that every congressional representative sensitive to taxpayers. Now, almost none of them care.

Taxpayers have to realize that their elected representatives no longer work for them. In fact, many work for the spending side. Literally, in some cases. For example, in NYC 54% of voters pay ZERO tax. The politicians know it. That’s why each election is just a race to see who can promise the most fee stuff and who can signal their woke virtue.

We have to start asking tough questions in this country. Like why do people who have never paid taxes get to vote.

Now NYC is getting a federal bail out and so nothing will change. NYC will dig a deeper hole and keep digging until their are reforms that put a stop to it.

Other cities have the same budget problems – Chicago, San Francisco, LA.

Taxpayers must realize that they need to be treated as a special interest group with lobbyists that fight for them and keep the representatives on their toes. Primary the ones who don’t care about taxpayers.

Only organization really fighting for taxpayers is The Union of Taxpayers at unionoftaxpayers.org

    Lucifer Morningstar in reply to Ben Kent. | February 22, 2021 at 2:30 pm

    Taxpayers are no longer represented by elected officials. Taxpayers are treated just as any “interest group”.

    True in the first part and totally wrong in the second. Taxpayers are now considered by our “elected officials” as nothing more than convenient piggy banks to raid and pillage whenever they get the bug to further their oh so expensive liberal agenda. Because of course, the rich liberal elite aren’t going to pay for all this spending.

Theses are bribes, much of which return – into the pockets of the politicians who vote for them. That’s how congressmen entering office with no money wind up mega-millionairea.

Why should it have anything to do with a rhinovirus that ran its course months ago? That’s just the excuse.

This is the same faded, dog-eared playbook that the GOP has used forever: harumph ineffectively at the excesses of the Dems to reassure the rubes. When they are in control and have a chance to *do* something, the playbook reads “run out the clock.”

    henrybowman in reply to Old Patzer. | February 22, 2021 at 6:04 pm

    My reaction exactly. We pay these guys enormous bennies to sit in DC and write playbooks, instead of getting out on the floor and battling bad bills. What’s next, are they putting together a sketch for their local cable access channel?

Four short years ago, Congressional Republicans shit their pants with glee voting for a 1.9 trillion dollar tax cut, mostly for the richest 1%, including themselves.

But hey, can’t give the peasants 1400 bucks, am I right?

    txvet2 in reply to cgray451. | February 22, 2021 at 4:10 pm

    “”am I right?””

    No. And for the record, I opposed the two similar payments under Trump. The tax cut “for the rich” along with other pro-business initiatives like cutting regulation helped spur 4 years of massive growth resulting in record low unemployment for all Americans, interrupted only by a fraudulently induced panic over a rhinovirus.

      mark311 in reply to txvet2. | February 22, 2021 at 4:29 pm

      Correction his policies continued growth in the economy and decreases in unemployment. Yes his tax reforms were largely aimed at the rich and corporation. The benefit to the poorest in society was extremely small.

      You mean the virus that has killed 500,000 Americans. Some fraud.

        txvet2 in reply to mark311. | February 22, 2021 at 6:14 pm

        It did nothing of the kind. Those numbers, as has been shown repeatedly, have been vastly inflated by including deaths from other causes, not all involving even comorbidity. For reference, check into the reported cases of cold and flu this past season. They’ve all been lumped together as “COVID”.

        DaveGinOly in reply to mark311. | February 23, 2021 at 12:21 am

        The economy started to grow under Obama in spite of his best efforts to prevent it from doing so.

        For instance, Obama stopped leasing federal land for oil production and stopped fracking on federal lands that were already under lease. The energy sector still grew as fracking and other oil production surged on private land. This surge in energy production ultimately resulted in our becoming energy-independent during the Trump administration, and Obama had the chutzpah to claim credit for it!

        Also, the Obama economy was so dismal, it didn’t have any way to go except “up.” And, BTW, the Bush recession ended early in Obama’s first term and subsequently a new recession started within months, a recession Obama and the MSM continued to refer to as “the Bush recession.” (A recession ends when certain economic data reaches certain levels over a particular period of time – I believe it’s three months. At that point, a recession is official over. This is how the Bush recession ended, but nobody seemed to notice. The follow-on recession was every bit Obama’s as Bush’s had been his.)

        lgbmiel in reply to mark311. | February 23, 2021 at 11:22 am

        @mark…

        covid didn’t kill 500,000. That’s a lie.

        In march of 2020, the CDC changed how they reported the CoD. Changed it just for covid.

        Caused covid deaths to be inaccurately inflated over 1600%.

        It’s a lie.

        Just like the masks are a lie.

        As are lockdowns.

    Mac45 in reply to cgray451. | February 22, 2021 at 5:20 pm

    You do understand how percentages work, right?

    10% of 100 is 10. 10% of 1,000,000 is 100,000. So if you make more money then the same percentage decrease saves you more money.

    On the subject of the benefits to the poorest segments of our society, most of these people are already enjoying benefits the rest of the citizenry does not enjoy. Benefits such as Welfare, food stamps, Medicaid and other insurance subsidies, child care benefits and others.

    henrybowman in reply to cgray451. | February 24, 2021 at 1:29 am

    So you don’t see a moral distinction between stealing less money from a person that he earned himself and owns, and sending him a check for money you stole from someone else?

Isn’t this the same political party that just voted to certify a fraudulent Presidential election? Isn’t this the same party that promised to repeal Obamacare and secure the border, and managed to do neither even when they had the majority? Isn’t this the same party that joins with their Communist BFFs to pretend that the riots of January 6 were an “insurrection” (the first one in history where the allegedly armed-to-the-teeth insurrectionists failed to fire a single shot)? Isn’t this the same party that have life-long Swamp creatures such as McCarthy, McConnell, and Cheney in leadership positions? Isn’t this the same party that though having McCain and Romneycare run for President was a swell idea? THAT party?

I’m surprised LI isn’t covering it, but we should note which Republicans vote for that psychopath merrick garland as attorney general. He’s a sick man, and he’s promising to use the ‘justice department’ (what a joke, huh?)as a fascist blunt instrument against you and I.

    Sounds about average. Republican AGs don’t prosecute Dems and barely prosecute Republicans, while Dem AGs unload on Republicans and cancel any investigation into Dems.

    Just because he is on the ‘otherside’ that doesn’t automatically make him a psychopath. Nor has Merrick promised to use the justice dept to do anything yet. He basically said he would be independent and hadn’t made a decision on any on going investigations. His key focus is the perpetrators of the Jan 6th insurrection. None of which is unreasonable.

      Ben Kent in reply to mark311. | February 22, 2021 at 5:32 pm

      Mark – Merrick signaled that the witch hunt will continue. Do you actually believe Jan 6 was an “insurrection” (defined as an armed attempt to overthrow the government).

      First, there was not a single firearm (hard to overthrow a government without at least one firearm and a lot of ammunition);

      Second, the rioters killed no one (the media hyped the death Officer Sicknick but even CNN now admits that the original narrative was false https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/02/politics/brian-sicknick-charges/index.html);

      Third, there has been zero follow up action to the Jan 6 event – insurrections are never a “one and done” action – unless they succeed perfectly from the start).

      Face it. It was a riot – pure and simple. There were a few who had bad intent. But it was “mostly peaceful” to uses CNNs definition b/c only about one-percent (5,000) went into the Capitol building of the 500,000+ that were demonstrating in DC that day.

      Finally, the impeachment showed that there was no command and control from Trump or his team. The impeachment manager’s case would have been a joke if the situation was not so serious.
      ___

      The talk of “insurrection” is of course propaganda. Propaganda always has a purpose. In this case, it is to crush dissent. “Unity” as Biden uses the term, is what is left after all dissent is neutralized.

      Mark, you seem like a rational person. It may be time to start wondering why they are so intent on crushing dissent in the US. 26,000 troops in the capitol with walls around the entire facility – staying till at least September; thought police hunting down any one who does not toe-the-line, including purity tests for progressives.

      If Trump had done anything remotely like this – you would have screamed that he is Tyrant. Dems do it with full-on media complicity – and Dems are mute.

      Your opposing views are welcome here. But, if I posted on a Progressive site – they would seek to have my head on a platter – if they could. The Dem considered themselves the party of tolerance – has now become he party of intolerance. It will take rational Dems and independents to push back on this and stop the madness. Or this country is doomed.

        henrybowman in reply to Ben Kent. | February 22, 2021 at 6:07 pm

        “Second, the rioters killed no one”

        Well, they trampled one lady, but not with any intent.

          henrybowman in reply to henrybowman. | February 24, 2021 at 1:34 am

          Actually, my understanding of this has been updated. Reportedly, four people died during this demonstration, every one of them a Trumper.

          One was trampled in a rush, one appears to have been shot by a mystery LEO, and two died of overexertion from entirely unrelated causes.

          The demonstrators caused zero deaths of LEOs or others not in their own group.

          So this was Pearl Harbor event, assuming you replace the US Navy Fleet with the Japanese Fleet, and then only sink a sampan.

      DaveGinOly in reply to mark311. | February 23, 2021 at 12:28 am

      He has recently stated his willingness to dismantle the 2nd Amendment. You know, a part of the Constitution that as a federal officer he will take an oath to support. Effectively, he has stated an intent to violate his oath of office in pursuit of a particular party’s agenda, rather than uphold the supreme law of the land (as the Constitution identifies itself in Article VI, in case you didn’t know, being a foreigner and all).

      This is pathological. The system is diseased when it even entertains positioning such people in positions of public trust.

      henrybowman in reply to mark311. | February 24, 2021 at 1:39 am

      “Nor has Merrick promised to use the justice dept to do anything yet.”

      Sorry, wrong again.

This looks like a fight to me, one we might win which would mean saving 1.9 trillion dollars.

The best bailout is reopening the nation, which vaccine production not bailouts does.

    DaveGinOly in reply to Danny. | February 23, 2021 at 12:29 am

    “The best bailout is reopening the nation…”

    The last thing politicians want is for the people to realize that they don’t need them.