2/5 News Roundup and OT
Senate vote paves way for passage of Biden’s economic relief plan
The Senate approved a budget bill early Friday that paves the way for passage of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, with Vice President Harris casting the tiebreaking vote on the measure that will be key to enacting Biden’s first major legislative initiative.
Passage of the budget bill by a 51-to-50 vote came just after 5:30 a.m. Friday, after an all-night Senate session during which senators plowed through dozens of amendments in a chaotic process known as a “vote-a-rama.” Democrats cheered on progress to address the pandemic, while Republicans complained of partisanship and excessive spending.
The House, which approved its own budget bill on Wednesday, is expected to act on on the Senate’s version within a day.
With the budget resolution nearly complete, Congress can turn in earnest to writing Biden’s expansive pandemic relief proposal into law — and push it through the Senate, without Republican votes if necessary, under the special rules unlocked by the budget legislation. That process will take weeks, with Democrats eyeing mid-March as the deadline for final passage of the relief legislation because that is when enhanced unemployment benefits will expire if Congress doesn’t act first.
“With the passage of this resolution we have the opportunity not only to address the pandemic, to address the economic collapse, to address the reality that millions of kids have seen their education disrupted,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “We have the opportunity to give hope to the American people and restore faith in our government to fight for them.”
Despite Biden’s campaign promises of unity and bipartisanship, now that Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the White House they appeared ready to leave Republicans behind. Republican senators accused Democrats of hypocrisy and argued that, after already devoting $4 trillion to fighting the pandemic, including $900 billion in December, there was no need to spend another $2 trillion on what they termed a wish-list of liberal priorities.
“This is not the time for trillions more dollars to make perpetual lockdowns and economic decline a little more palatable,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “Notwithstanding the actual needs, notwithstanding all the talk about bipartisan unity, Democrats in Congress are plowing ahead. They’re using this phony budget to set the table to ram through their $1.9 trillion rough draft.”
The House passed the budget legislation on Wednesday, with all Republicans opposed.
The agenda of the budget resolution passed today is not the agenda of wealthy campaign contributors. It is not the agenda of the billionaire class. It is the agenda of the working people of America and with its passage we are closer to restoring their faith in our government.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) February 5, 2021
More news, videos, etc in the comments section. TGIF!
Fire away..
I was pleased to get my Bernie mitten t-shirt yesterday.
@magsview Vibing cat is like ceiling cat. Keeps popping up everywhere.
during the latter part, the coup starts happening in Myanmar. a few days ago. just in case someone missed it.
love that cat.
Senate Moves Forward With Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Covid-19 Relief Plan
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/us/politics/biden-approval-rating-republicans.html
64% of Republicans. so instead of going full steam ahead, we’re going to niggle away what is actually pennies in the larger scheme and lose some of those Republicans.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXIJ2-RSIGn53HA-x9RDevA
For Bernie.
Enjoy the moment. As best you can.
MJ
@Ms_MaryJo
Replying to
@People4Bernie
Why are dems voting for republicans amendments when repubs don’t support the final bill. No that’s not bipartisanship that’s called colluding.
“This isn’t Bernie’s first rodeo”
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-senate-rejects-raising-15-minimum-wage-during-pandemic-2021-2?amp&utm_source=reddit.com
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/02/there-was-some-late-night-maneuvering-on-the-minimum-wage.html
i understand that small business owners would be freaked out. so maybe a ubi would be better right now. phasing it in makes no sense, bc it is already way below where it should be.
Exactly. Weak sauce of Bernie to settle for 5-years phased-in.
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/warren-the-no-1-thing-biden-can-do-for-economy-is-cancel-student-loan-debt-100555333987
Don’t know how I feel about this. 50k is better than the zero that Biden wants to do, but we’re asking for all student loan debt to be canceled, Liz.
It will get whittled down to about 10K, is my guess. 10K only covers one year of college (at best).
More than 200 officials from the Obama administration sign a letter urging Congress to go big on the stimulus.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/jamie-raskin-trump-testify/
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/02/05/fiery-floor-speech-cori-bush-demands-accountability-every-republican-who-incited
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/537507-cori-bush-marjorie-taylor-greene-didnt-take-back-what-she-said-about-me
“there’s a whole other side to this thing. it’s called loving humanity.
go cori.
Really appreciate how Bush has risen to spearhead the refusal to let this issue go silently. She gets that the stakes are normalizing white terrorist attacks, and the absolute necessity to hold as many accountable as possible.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/we-must-do-better-tlaib-in-tears-urges-colleagues-to-reckon-with-capitol-insurrection
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/refugees-125k-allocation-biden-executive-order/
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/02/biden-climate-change-actions-anger-big-oil/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=r%2F_bicc-02%2F05%2F20
For PB
https://www.propublica.org/article/we-have-counties-in-deep-trouble-oregon-lawmakers-seek-to-reverse-timber-tax-cuts-that-cost-communities-billions
ty, jcb!
Nonbinding vote but it does show who the two most anti-environmental Dems will be
https://www.newsweek.com/senate-backs-keystone-xl-pipeline-democrats-snub-biden-1567048
we must come to a point where we say murdering people with the MIC and with fossil fuel production and use is no longer an acceptable excuse for “jobs.”
Exactly. We’ve normalized waging death and destruction as part of the Main Street economy in far too many states. This must be decoupled for there to be any hope of America becoming a just society.
Love it Thumbs up
Mitt Romney proposes giving American families an extra $3,000 a year
Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) unveiled a plan Thursday that would provide American families with an extra $250 a month for school-aged children.
What?
It seems we are entering the anything is possible state.
i heard he is pairing it with something to do with harming social security. i’ll look for it.
He partly pays for it by completely eliminating the SALT tax deduction, which just adds to the $ that high tax blue states send to low tax red states. That will be a no go for blue state Dems. How about paying it by raising taxes on all high income earners throughout the US.
Joining forces with a Republican looking to slash the security net behind everyone’s back? Sounds like Yang alright.
i’m not sure there’s anything in this bill in particular. but yes, iirc, Mitt is not a friend of our retirement money unless it comes from Wall St.
but i have to admit, yang looks decent, at least. nycvg likes him, and she/he lives there…
We know what Yang is about by now though, PB. As an also-ran candidate in the presidential primary, with little to lose, he flip-flopped on M4A when he thought he could profit from it. And then there was his anti-Palestinian, pro-Zionist apartheid statements from a week or so ago. Anyone fooled by his sham act will only find themselves to blame when he sells them out, if elected.
From his web site;
He may appeal to libertarians.
Thankfully they aren’t listening to this joker
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/04/larry-summers-biden-covid-stimulus/
Summers is a prick.
T and R, Ms. Benny!! 🙂 Summers is a yahoo cretin. Speaking of neoliberals where’s PBO?
Bernie Sanders is Right, Larry Summers is Wrong
Larry Summers O_U_T.
Jared Bernstein I-N.
That’s the way, I like it…
RIP Christopher Plummer, who passed away at the age of 91. I’m going to reclaim a good song that was made sinister by the series The Man in the High Castle.
The Sound of Music is my favorite musical.
Here’s a version with Plummer’s own voice. He was a pretty good singer. In the movie, the song was dubbed by the singer Bill Lee of the group, the Mellomen. He dubbed lots of parts over the years.
tears for every German, Jew, Austrian, gypsy,Pole, disabled person and homosexual whose life was lost, damaged and destroyed by the Nazi regime.
what a gorgeous rendition by the late great CP.
That’s some interesting trivia. That version speaks to me even more because of the natural vibrato in Plummer’s voice and seemed more appropriate for the Von Trapp Family Singers as being plausible folk singers.
big endorsement for Andrew Yang
Related:
The VA senate also passed it. Now they are crafting the language to send to Northam’s office.