Posted on 12/24/2020 4:57:25 AM PST by Kaslin
Americans should be appalled by both the substance and the process of the latest COVID relief bill passed by Congress.
Our founding fathers intended for our country to be a constitutional Republic, where locally elected leaders would gather and through a process of careful deliberation and thoughtful debate arrive at decisions of nationwide importance. They would neither recognize nor respect a system where Congressmen and Senators are given a few hours to decide whether to vote for or against a 5,000 plus page proposal that they could not possibly even read, much less reflect upon.
There’s no doubt that Americans could use a relief package. We could have used one months ago. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocked the bill, she eventually admitted, in order to hurt President Trump’s re-election chances. After hurting the American people in order to hurt our President, she has now decided to send a Christmas-eve proposal to his desk and all but dared him to play the part of Scrooge.
Well, maybe he should. Because the substance of the bill is an insult to all Americans. Knowing full well that this was “must-pass” legislation, the Democrats – and many Republicans as well – filled the bill up with pork and wasteful spending that has absolutely nothing to do with helping out our fellow citizens.
As President Trump noted in his video address to the American people, this bill provides $85.5 million to Cambodia, $134 million to Burma, $1.3 billion for Egypt, and $25 million for democracy and gender programs in Pakistan.
But even as Congress is happy to send billions overseas, they have proven only willing to send 600 dollars to Americans to help see them through these troubling times.
What’s more, some parts of the bill are a direct insult to President Trump and his administration. President Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have been strong proponents of school choice, and have tried their best to persuade Congress to do something to expand it. But this bill actually prohibits governors from taking COVID relief funding and providing it to families whose children attend private schools. According to some insiders, this was a major sticking point for Congressional Democrats, who apparently harbor a profound hatred for private schools.
It also provides Pell Grants – money for college courses – to prisoners. Now, there’s a reasonable case for letting prisoners access higher education if doing so will help them prepare for a more productive life back in the real world. This had long been the Trump administration’s position. But this bill provides prisoners with Pell Grants with no restrictions whatsoever. That means that murderers and rapists who are serving life in prison or sitting on death row will be able to use your taxpayer money to take gender studies courses.
This bill is the swamp at its worst. This year, our politicians have shut down the country, intentionally delayed aid to Americans in order to hurt the President of the United States, and now that they’re finally getting around to doing something they put the American people last and their special interests, pet projects, and foreign nations first. And it’s politicians on both sides of the aisle. Remarkably, only six Republican Senators voted against this abomination of a bill.
President Trump issued a forceful critique of this bill, but soon he will have to decide what to actually do about it. He came to Washington, DC intending to drain the swamp. But he learned that the swamp doesn’t drain easily. And he has time and time again, seen that DC elites protect their own – not the American people.
That’s why it was inspiring to see him insist that this COVID relief bill actually be about COVID relief. He demanded that it provide Americans with more money – $2,000 per citizen – and give less of our taxpayer dollars to foreign nations and pork-barrel projects.
No group of Americans, sitting together in careful deliberation, would possibly arrive at anything resembling this bill for COVID relief. The profound disconnect between what our people actually want and what our politicians provide was a major part of the appeal of Donald Trump, the outsider, in the 2016 election, and a big part of why he got 13 million more votes in 2020. President Trump promised to put the American people first, and that’s exactly what he’s doing with his veto threat of this terrible bill.
Kaslin, I didn’t know Andrew got a gig with Townhall, even if it is infrequent.
Any congressional bill that includes monies for any country other than America, should be refused.
Received this in my email:
This why Washington is known as “The Swamp.” All we heard from the embedded politicians and the media is that they were trying to reach an agreement on an “economic stimulus” bill to help the American people. Surprise!!! The 5,000 page + stimulus bill equal to $900 Billion is packed full of pork! Here are some of the highlights.
1. $4,184,000 for Office of Ethics expenses.
2. $85,476,000 for Economic Research Services
3. $183,921,000 for National Agricultural Statistics Service
4. $60,131,000 for the Risk Management Agency
5. $21,000,000 for the Central Utah Project
6. $3,850,000 for the Office of the President
7. $13,641,000 for the White House Residence
8. $18,400,000 for the Office of National Drug Control Policy
9. $700,000,000 for the Sudan.
10. $500 million to Israel
11. $453 million to Ukraine
12. $135 million to Burma
13. $85.5 million to Cambodia
14. $1.4 billion for “Asia Reassurance Initiative Act”
15. $130 million to Nepal
16. $10,000,000 for gender reassignment programs in Pakistan.
You get $600.00, half of what was in the first bill.
Also buried in the “relief” bill is a new law. If you stream copyrighted content without permission, you’re now a federal felon, punishable by jail time, fines, losing your right to vote or own a firearm.
They gave you $600 of your own money though. Money you already paid through taxes.
And you thought that it was passed to help our citizens and their businesses. ��
Now we are supposed to accept a 47 year career politician who used fraud to win an election. This is why they want to get rid of President Trump.
Both houses of congress have abandoned debating individual aspects of government, lumping everything into one large omnibus spending bills.
My questions for these swamp creatures...what happens if/when we go to war with China? Who will we borrow from? Will you simply print what is needed regardless of the risk of hyperinflation. Destroying American worker’s life savings bother you at all?
Republicans were you not for smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation? Have you abandoned the conservative platform you previously ran on years past? Do you not care about the national debt? Do you not realize you’re robbing Americans of economic prosperity/growth? What about the next generation..the next?
Shameful.
Much us being said about the short amount of time that the Congresscritters were given to read the bill...
I’ll bet that the average ‘elected official’ would only take the time necessary to confirm his or her pet project was funded. Then it’s time to celebrate and pat oneself on the back...
That bill wasn’t meant as a Covid relief bill.
It was meant as a “Biden will come to the rescue bill”.
Like Biden said, the ‘relief bill’ was just a ‘down payment’.
IOW, Nancy and democrats meant it as a temporary relief bill, and the ‘real’ relief bill would be forthcoming after Biden took office. Once president, he would ride in as the American hero he’s been portrayed as, and would sign a much bigger relief bill, with payments equal to or greater than what Trump has proposed, where Trump has proposed $2,000 to each parent or $4,000 per couple, with children getting $600 or more.
Too bad for democrats that Trump stopped them on their tracks and wants the bigger payments NOW. That would leave virtually nothing for Biden to offer as a rescue package. Democrats, and a bunch of republicans, are stuck and need to respond to Trump’s offer, NOW!
I just checked, He has only 4 op-eds posted in Townhall.com The first one was published by Townhall on November 14, 1919, the next one on February 14, 2020, the third one on November 7, 2020 and than this one. It says his daughter Meadow was murdered in the Parkland school shooting. He is co-author of “Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies that Created the Parkland Shooter and Endanger America’s Students.”
Americans have let a lot of crap happen in the last 11 months. Why should they give a rat’s ass now?!
I am and also appalled at the previous $27 trillion of deficit spending.
Worst political class ever.
JoMa
All great questions, but it looks like they are getting to business as usual.
“Will you simply print what is needed regardless of the risk of hyperinflation.”
It seems that our money buys less after the first stimulus...hence inflation has already occurred. At some point the endpoint (laws of economics) will arrive. We’ll be in a precarious position as to who will gain the political power to design and implement the “solution” to the “problem”.
And Trump wants to raise $600 to $2000? It can be argued that the only real way to end the several states’ no end in sight insanity of their China virus shutdowns is for the feds to provide no more payments to individuals. This will put the pressure on the states to come to their senses and stop their overreach. The reality is that the short term “benefit” of $600 or $2000 will be paid in the long term. So yes, where is the fiscally responsible G0P? If they have to go along, then strip all the other spending out, starting with the list you enumerated.
Angry bookmark.
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