A slap in your faces
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday began circulating a
coronavirus relief proposal whose contents offer so little assistance to the tens of millions of jobless, hungry, and eviction-prone Americans that critics warned the Kentucky Republican is actively working to ensure the U.S. economy remains mired in deep recession as Biden administration takes charge next month.
Described as a "targeted" relief proposal, McConnell's plan is heavily geared toward providing corporations with immunity from coronavirus-related lawsuits; the offer includes a liability shield that Public Citizen's Remington Gregg
described as "breathtakingly broad." The Kentucky Republican's plan also contains a 100% tax deduction for business meals.
"As the Covid crisis only grows more deadly, this disgraceful proposal puts the lives of everyday Americans at even greater risk."
—Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Action
Meanwhile, McConnell's proposed relief measure
does not include a boost to federal unemployment insurance, instead calling for a mere one-month extension of existing programs and stricter requirements for applicants in the name of preventing "fraud." The Republican's proposal also omits another round of direct stimulus payments and aid to cash-strapped state and local governments.
"Leave it to Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump to propose a bill that creates tax write-offs for fancy lunches and gives the middle finger to working families and 20 million unemployed Americans,"
said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). "This is not a serious proposal, it is a slap in the face to people who need help."
In the months ahead of the November election and in the weeks since, analysts have
cautioned that if McConnell maintains his stranglehold on the Senate, the Kentucky Republican could attempt to
impose devastating economic austerity with the goal of undermining Biden's presidency and gaining GOP seats in 2022 and beyond. McConnell's new relief proposal only bolstered those concerns.
"McConnell is making it pretty clear that if Dems don't win the Georgia Senate races, he will cripple the American economy, hoping it will let the GOP win the midterm,"
tweeted journalist Jon Walker.
HuffPost's Zach Carter offered a similar assessment: