GOP Senators Prepare To Skip Town w/o Approving Covid Relief, Despite Mass Suffering: 'Disgraceful'

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Thu Sep 24, 2020, 04:22 PM - Edit history (1)

'Disgraceful': Despite Mass Suffering, GOP Senators Prepare to Leave Town Without Approving Covid Relief. "Trump and his Senate allies have found time to fast-track their SCOTUS plans while Americans are continuing to suffer without a new relief package." By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, Sept. 24, 2020.



- Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) speaks to the media as Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD) looks on after the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon Sept. 22, 2020 at Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Wash., D.C.

An additional 1.5 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week and more than 20 million people across the U.S. are going hungry, but Senate Republicans are preparing to leave Washington, D.C. for the campaign trail as early as Thursday without approving any legislation to ameliorate nationwide suffering brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and congressional inaction.

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD) said senators could skip town for an extended recess ahead of the Nov. 3 election if the upper chamber approves a House-passed continuing resolution Thursday to keep the government funded through mid-Dec., averting a looming shutdown. Following the House's passage of the resolution earlier this week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)- who from the start rejected calls to use the government funding negotiations as leverage to force through additional Covid-19 aid- expressed "hope" that Congress could still "reach a bipartisan agreement on coronavirus relief."

But the prospects of the GOP agreeing to a deal before the Nov. election appear vanishingly slim at present, given the refusal of many Senate Republicans to approve much-needed spending on state & local aid, an expansion of nutrition assistance, robust housing relief, & a $600-per-week unemployment supplement. "For 27 weeks in a row new jobless claims far surpassed the worst of the Great Recession. We have a major economic emergency- Donald Trump & Senate Republicans must stop blocking relief," Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) tweeted Thursday morning:

"Worse disaster looms for many, including those on Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or state Extended Benefits: without a new economic relief deal, they'll be entirely cut off from aid. They will get nothing."

While stonewalling on coronavirus aid, Senate Republicans have been perfectly willing to move ahead with business entirely unrelated to the pandemic, from confirming a raft of right-wing federal judges to forming a plan to force through Trump's yet-to-be-named Supreme Court pick ahead of Election Day. "Trump & his allies in Congress are rushing to ram through Justice Ginsburg's replacement, but where was this urgency when Americans pleaded with lawmakers & the Trump administration to help support their families & keep their businesses afloat?" Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, said...

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/24/disgraceful-despite-mass-suffering-gop-senators-prepare-leave-town-without-approving

- Update: Pelosi Starts Push for New, Smaller Relief Bill, Wash Post, Th. Sept. 24, '20.
https://democraticunderground.com/10142588685

[dlk]

1. Republicans have demonstrated their "right to life" hypocrisy in the most egregious way

They only care about money and power.

[appalachiablue]

2. Why some still don't grasp or care about the impact on

democracy and economic and social stability is unknown. Heartless.

[lagomorph777]

3. And you can bet they'll all show up to vote for Trump's SCROTUS pick.

It's like they want to be hated.

[moose65]

4. Wait, what?

"Extended recess"? What about the SCOTUS pick?

[appalachiablue]

5. That could be the formal language but it likely

includes an option for a flexible return to deal w matters like the SC issue, in a flash if needed. Got it covered for sure.