Ponietz
Ponietz's JournalSenate approves historic $2 trillion stimulus deal amid growing coronavirus fears
Source: CNN
Washington (CNN) The Senate on Wednesday approved a historic, $2 trillion stimulus package to provide a jolt to an economy reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, capping days of intense negotiations that produced one of the most expensive and far-reaching measures Congress has ever considered.
The legislation represents the largest emergency aid package in US history and the most significant legislative action taken to address the rapidly intensifying coronavirus crisis, which is overwhelming hospitals and grinding much of the economy to a halt.
It will next go to the House for a vote. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced Wednesday evening ahead of Senate passage that the House will convene at 9 a.m. on Friday to consider the relief package. The plan is to pass the bill by voice vote.
President Donald Trump has indicated he will sign the measure.
The White House and Senate leaders struck a major deal early Wednesday morning on the package. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell formally announced the agreement on the Senate floor, describing it as "a wartime level of investment for our nation."
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/25/politics/stimulus-senate-action-coronavirus/index.html
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Pelosi unveils 2.5 trillion counterproposal to GOP coronavirus stimulus
Source: Axios
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled on Monday a sweeping counterproposal to Senate Republicans' $1.8 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
“Why it matters: House Democrats' legislation — which comes with a $2.5 trillion price tag — comes after negotiations between Capitol Hill leaders and the White House broke down over the weekend, culminating in two failed procedural votes that have left the Senate Republicans' bill in limbo.
“The state of play: Democrats, who have asserted that the Senate GOP bill is a corporate slush fund that doesn't do enough to help American workers, are hoping that the release of this bill will give them more leverage in negotiations with Republicans.
“But Republicans have accused Democrats of playing politics during a national crisis by stalling action on their bill, calling this latest measure a "Democratic wish list" — as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell characterized it.“
Read more: https://www.axios.com/nancy-pelosi-coronavirus-stimulus-proposal-d7b4a9a0-610a-4324-a07b-6bb64e1f5c81.html
The Open Secret
None can die. None can be degraded forever. Life is but a playground, however gross the play may be. However we may receive blows and however knocked about we may be, the Soul is there and is never injured. We are that Infinite.
Thus sang a Vedantist: “I never had fear or doubt. Death never came to me. I never had a father or mother, for I was never born. Where are my foes?—for I am All. I am Existence, Knowledge, Bliss Absolute. I am It. I am It.”
However much the body rebels, however much the mind rebels, in the midst of uttermost darkness, in the midst of agonizing tortures, in uttermost despair, repeat this once, twice, thrice, evermore. Light comes gently, slowly, but surely it comes.
Many times I have been in the jaws of death, starving, footsore, and weary. For days and days I had no food, and often could walk no farther. I would sink down under a tree, and life would seem to be ebbing away. I could not speak. I could scarcely think. But at last the mind reverted to the idea: “I have no fear of death. I never hunger or thirst. I am It! I am It! The whole of nature cannot crush me—it is my servant. Assert thy strength, thou Lord of lords and God of gods! Regain thy lost empire! Arise and walk and stop not!” And I would rise up, reinvigorated, and here am I, living, today. Thus, whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything adverse must vanish. For, after all, it is but as dream. Mountain high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but maya. Fear not—it is banished. Crush it and it vanishes. Stamp upon it and it dies. Be not afraid. Think not how many times you fail. Never mind—time is infinite. Go forward. Assert yourself again and again and light must come.
—Vivekananda
Governor vetoes infrastructure bill as oil prices plummet
[link:https://www.abqjournal.com/1429497/governor-vetoes-infrastructure-bill-as-oil-prices-plummet.html|
“ SANTA FE — A global oil price war had New Mexico lawmakers and other elected officials on edge Monday, as a prolonged price crash could zap a recent revenue boom and cause a state budget surplus to evaporate.
“The uncertainty prompted Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to veto a spending bill that would have appropriated $49.5 million to fund 216 road projects statewide, including funding for bike paths, safety enhancements and median landscaping in Albuquerque.
“We do not yet know the degree to which (the coronavirus) and declining oil prices will impact our state’s economy,” Lujan Grisham wrote in her veto message of Senate Bill 232. “Given this uncertainty, I bear a heightened obligation to ensure that all significant expenditures constitute a demonstrably sound investment in New Mexico.”
“She also said the spending on road projects whose scope and total cost is often clear was not warranted given the uncertainty over the plummeting oil prices and other economic factors.
“Meanwhile, some legislators said the plunging oil prices, if they don’t bounce back, could force the state’s cash reserves to be significantly drawn down — just three years after they were all but depleted during a previous economic downturn.
.....
“If those numbers hold through June, it’s unstable,” said Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, referring to the state’s current budget year.
”The stunning oil price decline also comes as Lujan Grisham is nearing a Wednesday deadline to act on a $7.6 billion budget bill — one that’s largely reliant on oil-generated revenue — that calls for a $536 million increase in year-over-year spending during the coming fiscal year.”
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