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Biden asks: What would you have me cut from COVID relief bill?

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday acknowledged the increased risk of inflation should Congress move forward and pass President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. According to Yellen, the benefits outweigh the risks, especially as Americans continue to suffer from the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.The secretary said that with 10 million Americans unemployed and another four million dropping out of the workforce, relief is needed to help them make ends meet. She also pointed out that a number of women who have dropped out of the workforce have done so because of childcare issues, which is another reason kids need...

After a group of 10 Senate Republicans duly trudged to the White House on Monday to show their “bipartisanship” on yet another COVID-19 stimulus bill, President Joe Biden did the predictable: He looked at their outreached hand of political comity and spat on it. Just as well, since the only thing the Democrats’ plan will “stimulate” will be more debt. Biden and his party were never really interested in bipartisanship at all, despite their claims to the contrary. The whole point of this choreographed Kabuki political theater was to humiliate the Republicans, who foolishly took Biden and the Democrats at...

While speaking with the Riders Alliance on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discussed the timing of passing the next round of coronavirus relief, the American Relief Act, and said that “we’ll try to get that passed in the next month, month-and-a-half.” Schumer said, [relevant remarks begin around 20:00] “[I]n the new bill, which President Biden has put together with my help, there are lots of other — there’s more money for transit and other things. It’s called the American Relief Act, and we’ll try to get that passed in the next month, month-and-a-half.”

Congressional leaders passed a new stimulus package meant to alleviate the financial pain of the coronavirus, but it won’t cure all that ails PennDOT’s pocketbook. PennDOT press secretary Alexis Campbell said Monday afternoon it wasn’t clear if the relief plan will cover the $600 million funding gap plaguing PennDOT. Early media reports indicate that $10 billion of financial relief could be distributed to the 50 states’ highway systems, though it’s unclear how much would come Pennsylvania’s way. State Sen. Pat Browne, a Lehigh County Republican and longtime chairperson of the Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday that transportation-specific wording included in the...

President Trump has always put his personal interests above nearly everything else, and Republicans are paying the political price. Mr. Trump lost his re-election bid to Joe Biden, and now he may cost Republicans the Senate too. Mr. Trump lost his re-election bid even as Republicans did better down-ballot because more voters liked his policies than liked him. The President hewed to a largely conservative agenda as long as he needed to maintain GOP support. But now that he’ll soon leave Washington, he’s throwing that over to punish Republicans and anyone else who refuses to indulge his fantasies about overturning...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a bipartisan effort to enlarge the COVID relief bill to $2,000. President Trump supports the enhanced relief package. As a consequence, in justifying his maneuver McConnell did something we are all too familiar with. It is time to expose the Decepticon game again; this time people will accept.At first blush you might ask yourself why Mitch McConnell would block this bill and put the Georgia special election senate races in question. He just handed Georgia democrats an atomic sledgehammer. However, what most people do not understand is how McConnell works; being in the minority...

As COVID-19 vaccines are being rolled out, an extremely vulnerable group is being overlooked: millions of cancer patients. Doctors nationwide are sounding the alarm that many state governments and the federal advisory committee charged with prioritizing who gets vaccinated should move cancer patients up to the front of the line, right after nursing home residents and frontline health care workers. Right now, they're deemed a lower priority than "essential workers" such as firefighters and mass transit employees. Yet cancer patients are getting decimated by COVID-19. New data from 360 U.S. hospitals show that patients with cancer are more at risk...

The bipartisan relief bill includes $55 million to help small businesses that have been affected by COVID-19. Grants of up to $20,000 will be available to Michigan small businesses that need support this winter, the state announced. The relief bill also includes $3.5 million for grants of up to $40,000 each for live music and entertainment venues, according to Whitmer.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked two separate attempts from Democratic senators to pass a bill that would boost relief payments from $600 up to $2,000, which the House narrowly passed late Monday night with Republican support. McConnell, speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, instead indicated the Senate would work on responding to the concerns raised by President Donald Trump when he signed the $900 billion pandemic relief and government funding bill Sunday. McConnell said the Senate "will begin a process" to bring three priorities to the table this week, which includes increasing stimulus payments to $2,000, examining a repeal...

CNN anchor Don Lemon said Monday that President Donald Trump was “just embarrassing himself” with his delay in signing the coronavirus stimulus bill. Lemon said, “Ron, I got to tell you, watching this as much as you can as a layperson over the holidays because I was spending time off and not working, it’s embarrassing. The president is just embarrassing himself and really ruining whatever legacy that he has acquired since he’s been in office.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Sunday referred to the $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government spending bill, which is among the biggest spending bills passed by Congress, a “down payment on what is needed to crush the virus.” Congress passed the massive $2.3 trillion government spending bill, which includes $900 billion for coronavirus relief, last week. President Trump announced Sunday evening that he would sign the bill despite objections to billions in “pork,” as the bill includes billions in foreign aid and benefits for special interests.

...As for the waning days of the Trump administration, Morris marveled how President Donald Trump “just completely outfoxed” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on coronavirus relief, assuming he succeeds on getting foreign aide reduced and stimulus checks to Americans raised to $2,000. “Trump really, really outmaneuvered [Pelosi] with brilliance,” Morris said. “He saved the American people from a vast amount of money being spent on pork and garbage, and instead redirected [the debate] to Americans. “It’s the kind of move that makes me miss him like crazy. One of the things people don’t understand about Donald Trump is how brilliant...

President Donald Trump declined to sign the coronavirus relief and stimulus bill on Saturday evening as he pushed for higher stimulus payments of $2000 rather than $600, meaning millions of Americans would exhaust their unemployment benefits. Two unemployment benefits programs expired at midnight on Sunday morning, as the Wall Street Journal noted: The first provided unemployment benefits for gig and contract workers and others who don’t generally qualify for jobless aid. The second provided up to 13 weeks of additional payments to individuals who exhausted other programs that pay benefits, such as regular state unemployment benefits. In early December, roughly...

As noted yesterday, a simple COVID relief bill for American workers is really not a big problem… except it is… because the DC system is not structured around simply helping Americans first. The legislative machinery is owned by K-Street and multinationals who pay for the outcomes they alone create.A people’s president, Donald Trump, cuts through the chaff and countermeasures:President Trump wants congress to re-write the $900 billion COVID bill to provide $2,000 per person instead of $600 per person. In essence Trump is asking for a stand alone COVID relief bill for $2k/person, then drop the $600/person payment out of...

Pelosi responds to the question by telling Blitzer he needs to respect her committee chairs’ knowledge. She then accused Blitzer of defending the Trump administration throughout the process. You didn’t know she does stand-up comedy, too, did you? She closed her initial comments by essentially calling Blitzer too stupid to understand the differences between the two bills.

President-elect Joe Biden greeted the passage Monday night of a massive, 6,000-page coronavirus relief and spending bill with calls for more spending on the pandemic in the new year. The House and the Senate both passed the bill by overwhelming, veto-proof majorities after having just a few hours to read the voluminous text of the legislation. The bill provided $900 in coronavirus relief funding, including $300 for expanded federal unemployment benefits and $600 checks for households — half of the amounts provided by initial relief legislation earlier this year. But it also included $1.4 trillion to fund the rest of...

WASHINGTON — Top Capitol Hill negotiators sealed a deal on a $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package, finally delivering long-overdue help to businesses and individuals and providing money to deliver vaccines to a nation eager for them. “More help is on the way,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in announcing the agreement for a relief bill that would total almost $900 billion. “Moments ago, in consultation with our committees, the four leaders of the Senate and House finalized an agreement for another major rescue package for the American people.”

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday that another wave of urgently needed coronavirus aid was “very close” — and vowed that lawmakers wouldn’t leave Washington until they had inked a deal. “Our bipartisan discussions are continuing to make significant headway toward another relief package for the American people,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor.

Dan Crenshaw crushes Madame Speaker on House floor...