Tag: Sen. McConnell

If Congress doesn’t act, 12 million Americans could lose unemployment aid after Christmas

Washington Post logo

Deadlines set by Congress early in the pandemic will result in about 12 million Americans losing unemployment insurance by the year’s end, according to a report released Wednesday — a warning about the sharp toll that inaction in Washington could exact on the economic health of both individual households and the economy at large.

According to the report from unemployment researchers Andrew Stettner and Elizabeth Pancotti, those Americans will lose their unemployment benefits the day after Christmas — more than half of the 21.1 million people currently on the benefits — due to deadlines Congress chose when it passed the Cares Act in March amid optimism the pandemic would be short-lived.

Another 4.4 million people have already exhausted their benefits this year, according to Stettner and Pancotti, who wrote the report for the Century Foundation, a public policy research group. Continue reading.

‘They’re holding the whole country hostage’: How Mitch McConnell flouts the will of the American people

AlterNet logo

Tim O’Daniel and his coworkers at Cleveland Clinic Akron General confront additional cases of COVID-19 every day in a hospital so busy it’s sometimes difficult to find an empty bed.

They’re also battling rising frustration after waiting months for comprehensive coronavirus testing and other federal resources essential to containing the pandemic.

Americans voted overwhelmingly in the November 3 election to support the nation’s health care workers and go on the offensive against COVID-19. Continue reading.

Minnesota House Democrats call on President Trump, Senate Majority Leader McConnell to return to COVID negotiation

House DFL logo

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — On Tuesday, DFL members and members-elect of the Minnesota House of Representatives sent a letter to President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling on them to return to negotiations for COVID-19 economic relief legislation.  

“The election is over. A record number of Americans expressed their voice through vote and the results are clear. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 global pandemic is far from over,” wrote the DFL legislators. “In Minnesota and across our country, the virus is surging and people are suffering. We urge you to return to the negotiating table to help people who are desperate for your leadership amidst a pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 2,700 Minnesotans and 200,000 Americans.” 

The letter comes at a time when Minnesota is experiencing record-breaking cases of COVID-19, hospitals are under enormous strain, homelessness is increasing, Minnesotans are struggling to afford their rent, and small businesses continue to struggle in the midst of a global pandemic. All the while, a new COVID relief package has passed the U.S. House of Representatives, and awaits action from the U.S. Senate.  

Along with urging action on a new COVID relief package, legislators are requesting more flexibility to utilize resources allocated to state and local governments in the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. 

“The need for the pandemic response in Minnesota will continue well into 2021 and the lack of flexibility to continue using CARES Act funds for expenses beyond Dec. 30 will impede our response as we confront a significant state budget shortfall. We request that you approve an extension so that states like Minnesota can continue to utilize dollars approved in the CARES Act to combat the virus and help weather these economic storms.”  

The letter and its 44 signatories can be found here. 

Mitch McConnell is standing in the way of desperately needed support for the American economy

AlterNet logo

The next coronavirus stimulus bill needs to be at least four times larger than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) $500 billion proposal, economists told Salon.

Congress remains deadlocked on a bill after McConnell repeatedly rejected the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act passed by the House back in May, and the $2.2 trillion compromise offer House Democrats approved last month.

McConnell said this week that a bill “dramatically larger” than his $500 billion proposal is “not a place I think we’re willing to go.” Yet economists say the country needs at least $2 trillion to help the economy recover back to where it was before the pandemic, just as the US enters the worst wave of the coronavirus pandemic yet. Continue reading.

McConnell, Schumer to remain Senate leaders

Leadership elections were held even though the Senate majority has not been decided

Corrected, 2:23 p.m. | Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Democrat Charles E. Schumer of New York were reelected Tuesday to lead their parties in the Senate during the next Congress.

The leadership elections, which occurred behind closed doors Tuesday morning, were held even though it’s still unclear which party will hold the Senate majority. 

Races called in last week’s election have the chamber currently deadlocked at 48-48, and control could depend on a double runoff in Georgia for seats held by GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. Republican incumbents Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina are leading in the two other uncalled races. Continue reading.

Senate roadblocks threaten to box in Biden

The Hill logo

The Senate is looming as a roadblock for several of President-elect Joe Biden‘s policy priorities as Democrats start to assemble their 2021 agenda.

Biden and congressional leaders pledged to tackle a bold, aggressive slate of legislation when they felt bullish about their chances for a Democratic trifecta for the first time since 2010 and amid fierce pressure from their base to go big after four years of President Trump.

But in a setback, Biden will at best have a 50-50 Senate majority or, more likely, find his party in the minority by a seat or two, a significant hurdle that will test his ability to cut bipartisan deals while making it difficult if not impossible to pass several Democratic priorities for at least two years. Continue reading.

This is the face of radical-Republican contempt

AlterNet logo

Joe Biden just won more votes than anyone else in American history, but the next four years may go down in history as the stymied presidency. That’s because it looks highly unlikely that the Democrats will get a majority in the Senate, leaving the chamber under the iron-fisted control of Mitch McConnell, patron saint of polluters and profiteers.

Even before noon on Jan. 20, 2021, Donald Trump will be in a position to do enormous harm that will complicate the Biden presidency. Indeed, we should expect Trump is already looking for ways to use his last eight weeks in office to punish our nation—or at least the states that voted for Biden.

That assessment comes not from me, but from Trump himself. His life philosophy is a single word: revenge. Continue reading.

McConnell Already Plotting To Obstruct President Biden

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is already planning to stonewall the agenda of a potential Joe Biden administration, all the way down to preventing Biden from appointing the Cabinet secretaries he wants, according to an article published on Thursday by Axios.

Biden has yet to be declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, though the odds are looking good for him to defeat Donald Trump. And it is still unclear whether McConnell will control the Senate when the new Congress is sworn in next year, with the races for the two Georgia Senate seats headed to a runoff in January.

The current situation notwithstanding, Axios noted, “McConnell has a history of blocking Democratic presidents from passing anything — working to obstruct rather than cut deals.” Continue reading.

McConnell Vows To Continue Court Packing Even If Republicans Lose

Instead of focusing on a viable stimulus plan to help the American people and the country’s flailing small businesses, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is focused on doing the one thing he and his Republican colleagues said Democrats would do: pack the courts.

During an interview with Conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt, McConnell admitted that he will continue to fill the courts with conservative judges who will likely uphold their views and strike down opposing views.

“We’re going to run through the tape. We go through the end of the year, and so does the President,” McConnell told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “We’re going to fill the 7th Circuit. And I’m hoping we have time to fill the 1st Circuit as well.” Continue reading.

Judges nominated by President Trump play key role in upholding voting limits ahead of Election Day

Washington Post logo

An analysis by The Washington Post found that nearly three out of four opinions issued in voting-related cases by federal judges nominated by the president favored maintaining restrictions.

Federal judges nominated by President Trump have largely ruled against efforts to loosen voting rules in the 2020 campaign amid the coronavirus pandemic and sided with Republicans seeking to enforce restrictions, underscoring Trump’s impact in reshaping the judiciary.

An analysis by The Washington Post found that nearly three out of four opinions issued in federal voting-related cases by judges picked by the president were in favor of maintaining limits. That is a sharp contrast with judges nominated by President Barack Obama, whose decisions backed such limits 17 percent of the time.

The impact of Trump’s court picks could be seen most starkly at the appellate level, where 21 out of the 25 opinions issued by the president’s nominees were against loosening voting rules. Continue reading.