'People in Need Can't Wait': To Put Onus on Senate GOP, Progressives Urge Pelosi to Take $1.8 Trillion Covid Relief Package

"Rejecting any chance at a deal now means asking these struggling families to hold on for another couple of months before they get any help."

by
Jake Johnson, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/12/people-need-cant-wait-put-onus-senate-gop-progressives-urge-pelosi-take-18-trillion




With tens of millions still out of work and struggling to afford basic necessities as the coronavirus-induced economic collapse shows no sign of relenting, some progressives are urging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to accept a far-from-perfect $1.8 trillion compromise relief package offered by the Trump White House, warning that failure to pass any additional aid before the November election would be both morally and politically disastrous.


While the top-line figure is a far cry from the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act the House passed in May and significantly less than the $2.2 trillion revised version approved earlier this month, the proposed legislation—which has drawn criticism from both Pelosi and Senate Republicans—would provide substantial relief to the unemployed, an additional round of stimulus checks, and $300 billion in desperately needed funding for state and local governments.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin presented the $1.8 trillion counteroffer to Pelosi last Friday in an effort to revive talks that President Donald Trump threw into chaos, and nearly killed entirely, just days earlier.

"People in need can't wait until February," tweeted Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), alluding to the likelihood that failure to pass relief legislation before next month's election would likely delay any future stimulus talks until after the next president's inauguration.

"$1.8 trillion is significant and more than twice [the size of the] Obama stimulus," Khanna added. "Make a deal and put the ball in [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell's court."


Though Khanna appears to be alone among progressive members of Congress in publicly calling on Pelosi to take the White House up on its $1.8 trillion offer, several left-leaning commentators have made similar arguments in favor of a compromise relief deal in recent days as the coronavirus pandemic continues to take lives and the nation's economic situation remains dire.

"This [$1.8 trillion offer] is a much better deal than I have believed possible at any point since the passage of the March bill," said HuffPost's Zach Carter, referring to the $2.2 trillion CARES Act. While nowhere near flawless in the eyes of progressives, the CARES Act's $600-per-week federal boost to unemployment benefits—which expired at the end of July amid GOP opposition—proved highly effective in mitigating income losses for tens of millions of newly jobless workers and helping to prop up the economy.


"If McConnell blocks the deal, that's bad for the country, but great for Democrats," Carter tweeted. "[Ninety-one percent] of the country wants another stimulus bill. Let McConnell take the heat for it. Let him explain why he's focused on SCOTUS instead of a bipartisan deal supported by the president."Carter argued that political concerns over potentially handing Trump a legislative victory just ahead of the November election pale in comparison to the material consequences of refusing to approve additional relief for out-of-work Americans, hungry families, and those facing eviction. Accepting the compromise offer despite its numerous shortcomings, Carter said, would be both good politics for Democrats and a much-needed financial boost for countless desperate families across the nation.




In his newsletter on Sunday, Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to President Obama, echoed progressives in making the case that, contrary to the "consensus among the majority of Democratic political strategists" and despite the potential "political risks," a pre-election deal with the White House on coronavirus relief "is the right thing to do in the short, medium, and long term—for the country and the [Democratic] Party."

Freelance journalist Jon Walker highlighted one potential risk for Democrats on Twitter. "Everyone saying 'Pelosi take the deal' haven't thought what happens when House passes it tomorrow but McConnell on Thursday modifies it to be only $600 billion plus liability [protections] and corporate giveaway," wrote Walker. "Then Trump comes out for the McConnell bill and attacks Dems [for standing in the way of relief]."

Pfeiffer urged Democrats against blindly accepting a "bad deal" and said they "shouldn't swallow any poison pills like liability protection for corporations."

"However, if there is a deal on the table that helps the unemployed whose benefits are running out, the people waiting in long lines at food banks, and the families staring down the barrel of eviction, we need to take it," Pfeiffer wrote.

"Rejecting any chance at a deal now means asking these struggling families to hold on for another couple of months before they get any help," Pfeiffer continued. "Likely rejection by Senate Republicans is an argument for, not against, cutting a deal. If Mitch McConnell and his half dozen or so vulnerable Republicans want to ignore or vote down a relief package, let them do it. And then Democrats can hammer the living daylights out them in ads and on the campaign trail."


Thanks in large part to a president whose behavior has been even more erratic than usual since his departure from the hospital last Monday, stimulus negotiations between the White House and Democratic leaders remain chaotic and unpredictable. On Friday, just days after demanding an end to the relief negotiations, Trump claimed in an interview that he "would like to see a bigger stimulus package, frankly, than either the Democrats or the Republicans are offering."

In a conference call on Saturday, Senate Republicans balked at the idea of spending nearly $2 trillion more on additional coronavirus relief, voicing the belief that approving more aid will harm, not help, their hopes of holding a majority in the upper chamber.

"There's no appetite right now to spend the White House number or the House number," Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a close ally of McConnell, said during the call, according to Politico.

Pelosi, meanwhile, sent a letter to House Democrats on Saturday dismissing the White House stimulus offer as "insufficient in meeting families' needs."

"As I have said before, the devil and the angels are in the details," Pelosi wrote. "With over 213,000 Americans tragically having died, nearly 7.7 million having been infected, and millions having lost jobs and income security, it is long overdue for Republicans to get serious and work with us to defeat this crisis."

In a column last Friday, The Week's Ryan Cooper pointed to ongoing mass layoffs—around 1.3 million additional Americans filed jobless claims in the week ending October 3—and warned that "if Congress doesn't pass another round of economic rescues, then this will be one of the worst winters in American history."

"If Trump loses the election, as seems likely at this point, then there will be no more rescue until late January at the earliest," Cooper wrote. "And if Democrats don't take the Senate, which is also quite possible, there may not be any until January 2023. Let's get some cash for the American people while the getting is good."

Robert Evans: Are We In a Second Civil War?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcqFXsP0R5Y&ab_channel=TheZeroHourwithRJEskow

Massive Lines in Georgia on First Day of In-Person Voting Exemplify Ongoing 'Voter Suppression,' Say Critics

"We're becoming desensitized to unacceptable burdens on the franchise," one political scientist said. "People died for this right. [It] shouldn't take hours to participate in our democracy."


by
Kenny Stancil, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/12/massive-lines-georgia-first-day-person-voting-exemplify-ongoing-voter-suppression




Georgia's first day of in-person early voting Monday was marred by excessive wait times, as the combination of high turnout and technical difficulties resulted in long lines and possible health risks—a situation that voting rights advocates described as an example of intense voter engagement and excitement being undermined by a troubling system of voter suppression.




According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), "voters wrapped around buildings... even before polling places opened."

All registered voters in the state are eligible to vote prior to November 3, and early voters may cast a ballot at any polling station located in their county.

The AJC noted that "in-person early voters will join the 439,000 Georgia voters who have already returned their absentee ballots," adding that "by the time Election Day finally arrives, over two-thirds of the state's 5 million projected turnout will have already voted."

While this year's added flexibility is meant to encourage participation amid the coronavirus pandemic, election officials explained that "their goal is to keep lines moving and avoid problems" that occurred during Georgia's primary election on June 9, when voters in some areas experienced wait times of several hours.

Early evidence indicates that officials are not meeting their stated objective.

The Washington Post reported that "voters waited in line for up to five hours across the metro Atlanta region and surrounding suburbs."


"This is a picture of voter suppression," tweeted Claire McCaskill, a former senator from Missouri and current NBC News and MSNBC analyst. "Why do Americans have to wait in lines this long?"

At State Farm Arena, Georgia's largest early voting site, there was "a glitch with voter check-in computers" that caused lines to stop "after voters received an 'invalid card' error when inserting green voter access cards into touchscreens," the AJC reported.

AP News reported Monday that a federal judge on Sunday had expressed "serious concerns about Georgia's new election system but declined to order the state to abandon its touchscreen voting machines in favor of hand-marked paper ballots."


Adrienne Crowley, who waited an hour and a half to vote at the arena told the Atlanta city newspaper that "it was a little frustrating," but added that she would have waited "all day if I had to."

"It's a positive and a negative," Smyrna resident Danielle Driscoll told the AJC, referring to a line that had come to a 15-minute standstill outside the South Cobb Regional Library.

"It's a positive because people are voting," Driscoll said, "but it's a negative because I don't want to wait in line."

Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth, argued on social media that "we're becoming desensitized to unacceptable burdens on the franchise."

"People died for this right," Nyhan added. It "shouldn't take hours to participate in our democracy."


Voting rights expert Ari Berman tweeted that it's "great to see so many people excited about voting."

"But it's unacceptable to make them wait so long," he added.

Journalist Molly Jong-Fast stated that "this is so incredibly unfair. Voting should be easy."

Democrats Selfishly Sabotage Their Own Bill

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ7o1cT_rjA&ab_channel=HardLensMedia

Senate GOP Accused of 'Craven Power Grab' and 'Partisan Charade' as Coney Barrett Confirmation Hearings Kick Off

"The list of what is at stake if Republicans get their way is truly staggering."

by
Andrea Germanos, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/12/senate-gop-accused-craven-power-grab-and-partisan-charade-coney-barrett-confirmation

Senate Republicans were accused Monday of leading a "partisan charade" as the GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee began confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett—a Supreme Court nominee described as a threat to reproductive rights and healthcare access.

"Two things are clear," said NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue said in a statement. "Barrett poses a clear and present danger to our fundamental rights and this hearing is part of an illegitimate and craven power grab that could affect our courts for a long time."

If confirmed for the lifetime seat, Barrett, who is 48, would lean the court further to the right, giving it a 6-3 conservative majority.

Republicans have pushed through the nomination at lightning speed even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, suffering Americans see no aid from another comprehensive Covid-19 relief package, and voters have begun to cast ballots ahead of Election Day.

The rushed confirmation process, as well as the record of President Donald Trump's rightwing nominee, has elicited rebuke from Democrats, thousands of lawyers, and progressive groups like NARAL Pro-Choice America.

In her statement Monday, Hogue renewed the demand that senators not hold any hearing for a Supreme Court justice nominee until after the next administration begins.

"Plowing ahead with the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice this close to Election Day is an attack on our democracy that we won't forget," said Hogue, calling it "disgraceful for Senate Republicans to continue this partisan charade to maintain control no matter the results of November's election, all while refusing to help people struggling in the midst of the still-raging pandemic."

"No confirmation should be considered until after Inauguration Day, period," she said.

The reproductive rights group has previously warned that Barrett's "positions show she is a clear and present threat to reproductive freedom and the promise of Roe"—a warning in line with that from Center for Reproductive Rights president and CEO Nancy Northup, who's called Barrett's "record in opposition to reproductive rights... clear and alarming."

Beyond threats to abortion access, Barrett's critics say her record shows other key issues hang in the balance as well, such as the fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).




That issue was noted by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in his opening remarks at the confirmation hearing. "Instead of doing anything to help people who are struggling right now, we are here."

"I am really glad that my colleagues who contracted Covid-19 at the Rose Garden super-spreader event had access to the care you and your families needed," said Booker, contrasting such access with that available to "the people who will come through here today to wipe down the desks and empty the garbage, that will vacuum the floor... like people all over our country who are working today" and "cannot show up to work sick."

"Donald Trump and most of my Senate Republican colleagues know the truth—they will not be able to get away with this after the American people have spoken in this election," said Booker. He asserted of the rushed confirmation process for Barrett: "Nothing about this is normal."




Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also drew attention to what she framed as a broad scope of rights that would be under further attack should Barrett be confirmed.

"We know exactly what Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, is being picked to do: complete a decades-long assault on our judiciary by billionaires, giant corporations, and rightwing extremists to tilt the courts in their favor and against everyone else," Warren wrote at an op-ed published Monday at Rolling Stone.

"The list of what is at stake if Republicans get their way," warned Warren, "is truly staggering."

Barrett's confirmation hearings are set to last through Thursday.

Trump ATTACKS Dr. Fauci on Twitter after Fauci DENIES Trump Ad

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpqyiYWOaqY&ab_channel=ChristoAivalis

'Appalling Criminal Conduct': California GOP Accused of Operating Fake 'Official' Ballot Drop Boxes

"Apparently they're trying to prove voter fraud is real by committing actual election fraud."


Jake Johnson, staff writer



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/12/appalling-criminal-conduct-california-gop-accused-operating-fake-official-ballot




California's top election official is investigating reports that the state's Republican Party has set up unauthorized ballot drop boxes posing as "official" in several major counties, an illegal practice that could deceive voters into depositing their ballots at unsecure locations.

"Operating unofficial ballot drop boxes—especially those misrepresented as official drop boxes—is not just misleading to voters, it's a violation of state law," California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement responding to reports of unauthorized ballot drop boxes in Fresno, Los Angeles, and Orange counties.


"The post, from Jordan Tygh, a regional field director for the California Republican Party, encouraged people to message him for 'convenient locations' to drop their own ballots," the Register reported.As the local Orange County Register reported late Sunday, "In a photo posted to social media last week, a young man wearing a mask with Orange County congressional candidate Michelle Steel's name on it is holding a mail ballot and giving a thumbs up next to a box about the size of a file cabinet labeled 'Official ballot drop off box.'"

That was just one of several instances of potentially illegal election activity by Republican officials that has been reported in recent days. On Saturday night, the Register noted, reports emerged of "a metal box in front of Freedom's Way Baptist Church in Castaic that had a sign matching the one on the Orange County box."

"The church posted on social media that the box was 'approved and brought by the GOP,'" the Register reported. "The post said church officials don't have a key to the box and that GOP officials pick up the ballots... On its website, the Fresno County Republican Party also shared a list of 'secure' ballot collection locations. None are official county drop box sites, with the local GOP instead listing its own headquarters, multiple gun shops, and other local businesses."




Under California state law, only county election officials are authorized to set up ballot drop boxes to ensure adequate security.

Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley told the Register that hundreds of people called his attention to the potentially unlawful ballot drop box promoted by Tygh of the California Republican Party.

"What we did was started to look into it, notified the state, and the secretary of state issued guidance this afternoon that it is illegal and you can't do that," said Kelley said. "It would be like me installing a mailbox out on the corner—the Post Office is the one that installs mailboxes."


Slate staff writer Mark Joseph Stern called the Register's reporting "incredibly alarming" and said it suggests "appalling criminal conduct by California Republican operatives."

"California Republicans are allegedly creating fake drop boxes and tricking voters into depositing their ballots in them," wrote Stern. "Apparently they're trying to prove voter fraud is real by committing actual election fraud."