“As
long as they calculate that they’re better off politically doing
nothing, it’s going to be hard for us to move forward,” Florida's
Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, told reporters recently.
"They" are
Congress's Democrats.
Welcome, again, to Upside-Down World. The
House bill passed in May, and the Senate didn't move so much as a pencil
till the week enhanced unemployment benefits ended in late July. The
Republican-heavy Senate is dragging its feet and lying about it. Surprise!
 |
| Senate Republicans holler "Obstruction!," but their relief bill isn't meant to pass. It's meant to slow down or deny help to the poor. |
True, the House is not going to accept the Senate
version of the relief bill. It's probably designed to be impassable. The
bill does little for the poor. It even shields employers from liability
if slipshod safety measures lead to workers getting COVID-19.
The bill would not only bar employees from suing employers, but it would allow employers to sue employees.
Employees who get COVID-19 would have to give up their firstborn male
child in exchange for annoying the boss. (Did you realize I was kidding?) That provision would last till
October 2024!
The Senate bill would also spend hundreds of millions of dollars to serve Trump's business interests.
Anyone
who is not Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would blush over this
bucket of bullpucky. Even so, by not passing this bill, Republicans
say, the House is being "obstructionist."
The bill is going
nowhere anytime soon. Senate Republicans have been fighting each other over
every jot, tittle, and dime in the bill. While the House wants to resume
a supplemental $600 a week for the unemployed, Republicans only agree
that $600 is too much.
Meanwhile, House Democrats are
negotiating with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Chief
of Staff Mark Meadows, who are the Scylla and Carybdis of forward
movement.
McConnell isn't even part of the negotiations, and
senators are taking a long weekend, because they're itching to go home
and play and campaign -- it's August!
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