Jeff Stein released a report of a stimulus compromise package introduced by a bipartisan group, headlined by Steve Manchin and Susan Collins. It contains a few good things but still badly misses the mark for what America needs right now, here it is:
The PPP and health/vaccine distribution is nice I guess but this, like I just said, badly misses the mark for needed relief. First off, $300 a week for unemployment is not nearly enough, there is really no excuse or reason to drop down from the previous 600 a week amount. Secondly, and most importantly, no 2nd round of stimulus checks is inexcusable.
Personally if I was in the House or Senate in our current state I would not even entertain a relief package that didn’t include another round of checks to the people. We are on the verge of an eviction crisis and millions on Americans are at risk of having their utilities shut off and are struggling to put food on the table. There are no excuses for this, none, a global pandemic is not the time to be worrying about the national deficit.
The Government needs to act in the best interest of it’s citizens and it’s citizens desperately need relief now.
The only good thing I can say about this bill is that it was released as a way to break the logjam with the House and get some immediate relief out there, which I can understand, but it has been months since the last time the people got a check, stimulus checks need to be priority number 1.
Also, with unemployment benefits set to expire soon I can value trying to quickly pass a bill that includes extending those benefits, although it really should be more than $300. All I can hope is the $300 is a place holder to keep people a float till a better relief package is able to get hammered out and passed.
It will be interesting to watch where this goes but our Government needs to get its act together and quickly, this is literally a matter of life and death.
Green Buddhist 