The Incredible Shrinking Relief Check
W.J. Astore
I read the news today, oh boy ...
Remember when Joe Biden promised a $2000 Covid relief check if the Democrats won both senatorial races in Georgia? He said they'd "go out the door immediately." Well, immediately has turned into weeks and probably will turn into months. First, the Democrats reduced the amount to $1400, saying they'd meant all along that the previous $600 check had been included in Biden's promise. OK--I almost believe that. Now the $1400 amount has shrunk to $1000, if the wishes of "moderate" Republican senators are upheld. Biden and Kamala Harris are meeting with these moderate Republicans today, seeking "bipartisan" accord on a much smaller relief package ($600 billion versus $1.9 trillion). It's now all about "targeted" relief, based on family income as reported to the IRS.
Let's think back, way into the past, when Donald Trump was president. Do you recall the Republicans meeting with Democrats to secure bipartisan support for what they wanted to do? Me neither. I recall Trump and Republicans doing pretty much what they wanted, with most Democrats along for the ride.
So, how does a $2000 relief check become $1400 become $1000 become nothing (if your income exceeds $50K, or $100K as a family)? When you have miserly and dishonest politicians in charge.
Democrats could have moved immediately (there's that word again) to pass a simple Covid relief bill for $2000 checks, instead of trying to pass a complex relief package that's scheduled for next month at the earliest. But simplicity would not allow room for pork-barrel politics as usual, hence the complicated course we're now on. Meanwhile, struggling Americans wait ... and wait ... and wait.
Joe Biden is a business as usual president -- emphasis on "business." As Chris Hedges recently wrote, he's papering over the cracks in a rotting edifice, doing the job he was hired to do by his paymasters. But bipartisan accord will mean less than nothing when the whole rotting building crashes down around us.