Congress 'Sleepwalking Toward a Gut-Wrenching, Painful Failure' on Covid-19 Relief [View all]

[G_j]

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/05/12/senate-staffer-warns-congress-sleepwalking-toward-gut-wrenching-painful-failure?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook

Senate Staffer Warns Congress 'Sleepwalking Toward a Gut-Wrenching, Painful Failure' on Covid-19 Relief

"Congress appears to be on its way to passing a half-assed bill that underachieves on public health, families/workers, state/local governments, businesses," the senior Democratic aide fretted.


byJake Johnson, staff writer


A senior Democratic Senate staffer wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread Tuesday morning that he has "never been so dejected" by the state of policymaking on Capitol Hill and warned that Congress is "sleepwalking toward a gut-wrenching, painful failure" as it refuses to advance solutions that match the scale of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic disaster.

"I've seen ugly policymaking, but I've never been so dejected. Congress appears to be on its way to passing a half-assed bill that underachieves on public health, families/workers, state/local governments, businesses."
—Charlie Anderson, adviser to Sen. Michael Bennet"As an economic staffer in Congress, I'm worried we're about to watch a slow-motion train wreck," wrote Charlie Anderson, a senior adviser to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). "More than 80,000 Americans are dead. Unemployment is at Great Depression levels. Yet, Congress appears prepared to massively undershoot what's needed."

Anderson, who works on economic and tax policy, ripped the Republican Party for its "appallingly destructive" behavior during the crisis—including its push for legal immunity for corporations and cynical complaints about the rising deficit—and voiced fear that Democrats are likely to continue offering inadequate solutions "in the hope of appearing more 'reasonable.'"

"If Dems start at half a loaf, Republicans will cut that in half (or more) too," Anderson said. "Due to 'cost concerns' we risk underdoing unemployment benefits, housing, food assistance, healthcare."

..more..