Mitch and the HEROES Act
Following Mitch's Money, Presentation by Doug Price on July 27, 2020
Let’s have a discussion about the HEROES Act and Mitch’s failure to act on the bill passed by the House.
But first a shout-out to our guest tonight the AFL-CIO. Here is what they think about Mitch:
In 2019 their rating of Mitch was 21% and he has a lifetime score of 12%. In contrast Congressman John Yarmuth has a 2019 rating of 100% and a lifetime rating of 98%.
https://aflcio.org/scorecard/legislators
What is the acronym behind HEROES? The Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act.
The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy has posted a compilation on the HEROES Act:
The bill would provide the kind of substantial economic relief Kentucky and other states need in the face of the COVID-19 recession. The Senate must now join the House and agree to a relief package that adequately supports families, governments and businesses through this crisis and sets the stage for a robust economic recovery when the pandemic is eventually behind us.
Here are what major elements of the HEROES Act would mean for Kentucky:
The Commonwealth would receive a total of $7.4 billion over 2 years. Cities, Counties and other governmental units would receive over $4.4 billion.
As an example, my county (Harrison) would receive $10.6 million, the county seat (Cynthiana) would receive $3.1 million and the 2nd largest City (Berry) in the county would receive $128,000.
https://kypolicy.org/whats-in-the-heroes-act-for-kentucky/
During Governor Beshear’s Covid-19 press conference on July 22 he said revenues in the last 3 months have declined 8 percent and that the state faces a $1.1 billion shortfall for the current fiscal year without federal assistance. “We will be looking at the largest budget cuts in our history.”
https://www.kentucky.com/article244409272.html
The AFL-CIO stresses that the House-passed HEROES Act will provide long-overdue relief for working people.
“If Mitch McConnell doesn’t act … budget cuts will destroy the public services we need to recover from the coronavirus.”
The HEROES Act promises a second stimulus check of up to $6,000 for a family of 5, debt relief, student loan forgiveness, hazard pay, six more months of COVID-19 unemployment, housing and food assistance, and nearly $1 trillion in aid for state and local governments so they can pay “vital workers like first responders, health workers, and teachers” who are at risk of losing their jobs due to budget shortfalls.
The HEROES Act also makes a change to the federal government’s new Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses. The new proposal eliminates the requirement for businesses to use 75% of the money for payroll expenses, so small businesses could use the money as they pleased.
https://www.debt.org/2020/06/01/heroes-act/
Last week Mitch finally decided to draft a Senate bill that will hopefully address some of these issues. Now both sides can negotiate the final bill which will be markedly different than what the House sent to him over 2 months ago.
As of July 23, 2020 the Senate version is a $1 trillion bill as opposed to the House $3 trillion bill. I expect this means that there are no funds for state budgets. The most Powerful man in the Senate does not care for his home state. Does he want the States to go bankrupt, his people suffer?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/22/politics/deal-reached-congress-covid-response/index.html
So why is Mitch holding the HEROES Act hostage? Should it be about MONEY for the People or MONEY for Mitch and Businesses?
As always with Mitch it is about the Money.
The United States Chamber of Commerce is pushing for liability protections for businesses. In the 2020 election cycle the Chamber donated $21,400 to Mitch. During the 2020 cycle the Chamber has given direct donations of over $350,000 to politicians and spent an amazing $77,245,000 in lobbying.
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/recipients?id=D000019798
From 1998–2020 the Chamber has spent over $1.6 Billion on lobbying. According to Open Secrets — the Center for Responsive Politics this is the most money spent by any one group! Ever! Don’t you expect this buys a lot of support?
https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders?cycle=a
The Chamber’s #1 concern is making sure there is liability protection for businesses.
The Chamber wants to make sure that businesses can do what is best for the business not the employee. I understand this is a broad stroke and that not all businesses will take advantage of their workers.
The draft proposal authored by McConnell and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas.), proposes relieving businesses, schools, churches, and other institutions of legal responsibility for workers, customers, and others who contract Covid-19 except in cases of “gross negligence and intentional misconduct” — a difficult standard to prove in court. Should we get Erin Brockovich on speed dial?
As the Associated Press reported, the Republican plan “offers a broad shield by requiring heightened pleading standards, stiffening burden-of-proof standards, and capping damages on awards. Employers would also be shielded from investigations by federal agencies.”
Additionally, McConnell and Cornyn’s plan would empower companies to move coronavirus-related personal injury and medical liability cases to more business-friendly federal courts. “Defendants are liable,” the draft states, “only if they failed to make reasonable efforts to follow applicable public-health guidelines.” Mitch has pushed the appointment of 190 circuit/district court judges — could you call this stacking the deck?
The bottom line is Pay to Play. The Chamber has spent more money on lobbying than any other organization! Money talks or Mitch walks.
I believe this must end. We need to Ditch Mitch on November 3, 2020.
Doug Price is a member/treasurer of the MMRC and a regular participant on the #MoscowMitchMonday live stream, discussing Mitch and Money. Doug is an advocate of governmental change on the State/Federal level and has periodically worked on Democratic campaigns dating back to the 80s. Follow Doug on Twitter @ PriceDoug
