Biden advisor snaps at MSNBC host challenging him on 'inefficient, overpriced' healthcare funding in relief bill



A top advisor of the Biden administration snapped at an MSNBC host who challenged him on an "inefficient, overpriced" healthcare provision in the stimulus bill passed by Democrats.

MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan pressed Cedric Richmond on why the bill provided $35 billion to support COBRA health care benefits for 2 million unemployed people instead of simply paying for a universal healthcare system.

"How is that a good use of that money?" asked Hasan. "$35 billion subsidizing insurance companies for six months, wouldn't that money be better invested towards building universal healthcare in this country?"

"Well clearly you have health insurance right now!" Richmond snapped.

"You ought to pose that to people who have lost their job through no fault of their own, that has lost their health insurance and they need a bridge, so that they stay with insurance," Richmond fired back at Hasan.

On the @MehdiHasanShow, senior White House official Cedric Richmond and I had a rather lively and robust exchange o… https://t.co/b14dP0D2xU
— Mehdi Hasan (@Mehdi Hasan)1616544522.0

"It's very easy for people to make judgment calls when they're not in other people's shoes, and I won't do that. I won't put a price on lives," Richmond added.

Hasan tried to interrupt Richmond but he shouted him down and continued on to explained that the COBRA funds would help those who lost their jobs and employer-provided healthcare because of the pandemic lockdowns.

"Did we rise to the moment? Yes!" Richmond continued. "Did we spend $1.9 trillion? We did, you know why? Because there was $1.9 trillion worth of problems in this country that we were trying to fix!"

Hasan then accused the Biden administration of orchestrating a payment of billions of dollars to insurance companies instead of helping people directly. He also made Richmond answer to criticism of his appointment by far left and progressive groups.

Here's the whole exchange between Hasan and Richmond:

How the Biden Admin. is Giving More Time to Sign up for Obamacare | The Mehdi Hasan Showwww.youtube.com

Democrats snuck $60 billion in tax hikes into COVID relief bill



Democrats in Congress got a head start on their tax-increase agenda by reportedly sneaking a trio of surprise tax hikes into President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

The spate of new taxes, which together amount to $60 billion, target wealthy and big corporations.

"One takes away deductions for publicly traded companies that pay top employees more than $1 million. Another provision cracks down on how multinational corporations do their taxes. A third targets how owners of unincorporated businesses account for their losses," Politico reported Wednesday.

Politico added that while the tax hikes are aligned with the Democrats' agenda of raising taxes on the rich, they fell under the radar because of their relative obscurity.

"Unlike things like raising the corporate tax rate or upping the top marginal tax rate on the rich, the ones they chose won't produce many headlines," the outlet noted.

The proposals were also added late in the legislative process and, consequently, lobbyists weren't able to rally opposition in time.

"Everybody was caught by surprise," a former Democratic aide told Politico. "They picked obscure items — things that were not on the radar."

While Democratic lawmakers were expected to put off tax increases until later in Biden's term, evidently they couldn't resist the opportunity once it presented itself. Having reportedly run into problems "complying with the stringent budget rules surrounding so-called reconciliation measures like the coronavirus legislation," Democrats instituted the tax hikes to "shield the entire measure from a Republican filibuster in the Senate."

Translation: They were spending too much money, so in order to keep the mammoth legislation from facing further scrutiny in the form of a filibuster, Democrats took from the wealthy to pay for the plan, thus lowering the cost.

Politico portrays Democrats as reluctant to take the action, however, it's hard to conceive how raising taxes on the wealthy with the added benefit of sticking it to Republicans in the process is something that Democrats wouldn't be desirous to do. After all, the tax hikes fit perfectly into the Democratic economic agenda.

Either way, news that Congress raised taxes at all during a time of continued economic difficulty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic may rub many Americans the wrong way. Though Democrats would likely argue that the tax hikes paved the way for including measures such as waiving taxes on unemployment benefits.

Speaking with National Interest, Alan Viard, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said, "The Democrats would argue that these particular tax hikes will have little impact on aggregate demand and that including them in the bill allowed the inclusion of additional tax cuts (that the Democrats believe will have significant effects on aggregate demand) with no net revenue loss."

The bill had passed both chambers of Congress on Wednesday, largely along partisan lines, and Biden signed the bill into law Thursday.

Breaking: Democrat effort to hike minimum wage in COVID relief bill dies after ruling from Senate parliamentarian



The effort to include a hike in the federal minimum wage as a part of the COVID-19 relief bill perished on Thursday after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that it could not be included in the legislation.

Democrats have been pushing for the controversial wage hike, while Republicans have warned that it would lead to an increase in unemployment and shuttered businesses.

CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju reported the development based on his sources in the Senate.

"No minimum wage in the budget reconciliation bill, a big loss for Democrats. Parliamentarian says it's not within the Senate rules of reconciliation," reported Raju.

The report said that the wage hike could not be included because it is a "mandate on businesses" as it it currently written.

The ruling will make the passage of the bill more likely since moderate Democrats like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia had voiced their opposition to the bill if it included the wage hike.

While progressives had vehemently denounced Democrats for not supporting the minimum wage hike enough, they also indicated that they would back down if the parliamentarian ruled against it. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) said that if Democrats had excised it from the bill they would be pressed to vote against it altogether.

"If $15 is not in the package due to parliamentary reasons, that's one consideration and I would be open to voting for the package," said Ocasio-Cortez to CNN.

"If Democrats strip it out, or if they change, fundamentally alter the provision and it's essentially removed for political reasons, that is where, I think, not just myself but a substantial amount of progressives are kind of in a difficult spot," she added.

Other progressives like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) called on Vice President Kamala Harris to disregard the order and include the hike in the bill.

"I'm sorry—an unelected parliamentarian does not get to deprive 32 million Americans the raise they deserve. This is an advisory, not a ruling. VP Harris needs to disregard and rule a $15 minimum wage in order. We were elected to deliver for the people. It's time we do our job," Khanna tweeted.

Here's more on the ruling at the Senate:

Minimum wage increase will not be included in Covid relief billwww.youtube.com

Pakistani 'gender programs,' horse-racing integrity, climate monitoring in Tibet: Just a few of the ridiculous things thrown into the COVID relief omnibus package



On Monday, Congress passed a long-awaited $900 billion coronavirus relief bill as a part of a $2.3 trillion omnibus spending package to fund the the government through next September, and as you might expect, the behemoth piece of legislation included far more than just stimulus checks and pay for government workers.

In fairness to the nation's lawmakers, they were only granted a handful of hours to review the more than 5,000-page document before they were expected to vote for its passage. It's doubtful that anyone outside congressional leadership read it, but nevertheless it received overwhelming support from both Republicans and Democrats in both chambers.

Now that the legislation has been approved, details about what exactly is in it have started to trickle out — and, needless to say, it's not pretty.

What are the details?

Included in the bill are millions of dollars to fund "gender programs" in Pakistan, fund new cars for federal HIV/AIDS workers, and establish a Climate Security Advisory Council, according to Grabien Media founder Tom Elliott, who posted a lengthy Twitter thread with snapshots of the document Monday night.

Money is even set aside to fund an investigation of the "1908 Springfield Race Riot" and enforce horse-racing integrity.

The Covid relief bill includes a lengthy subsection titled “the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020” https://t.co/zfBtHUnRhE
— Tom Elliott (@Tom Elliott)1608583142.0

Evidently, lawmakers thought it unacceptable not to provide funding for a museum to celebrate "the life, art, history, and culture of women." Oh and they also made sure to appropriate funding for programs to discourage teenagers from drinking under age and engaging in unsafe sex.

The Covid relief bill includes $193 million for federal HIV/AIDS workers stationed abroad to buy new cars https://t.co/y16iyK2aJF
— Tom Elliott (@Tom Elliott)1608587111.0

Townhall reporter Beth Baumann even discovered a section of the bill where millions of dollars are set aside to monitor the climate change taking place in Tibet.

Wait. It looks like it's $1,00,000. And there's a scholarship too. https://t.co/oBLPhNk4N6
— Beth Baumann (@Beth Baumann)1608598109.0

What else?

In a blistering speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) denounced the bill and called out the so-called conservatives who abandoned their "soul" and their "fiscal integrity" to vote for it.

"If free money was the answer ... if money really did grow on trees, why not give more free money? Why not give it out all the time?" the senator asked.

"Why stop at $600 a person? Why not $1,000? Why not $2,000?" he said in reference to the forthcoming stimulus checks set to be distributed to every American. "Maybe these new Free-Money Republicans should join the Everybody-Gets-A-Guaranteed-Income Caucus? Why not $20,000 a year for everybody, why not $30,000? If we can print out money with impunity, why not do it?"

The legislation passed in the Senate by a vote of 91-6. Five Republicans — Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Mike Lee (Utah), and Ron Johnson (Wis.) — joined Paul to vote against the bill. Prior to that, the bill passed in the House by a vote of 359-53, with only 53 members — 50 Republicans, 2 Democrats, and 1 independent — disapproving.

Maxine Waters is outraged that people want Democrats to negotiate with Republicans on 'coronavirus-19' relief bill



Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California appeared to justify Democrats stalling on negotiations with Republicans on the coronavirus relief bill because of legal action taken by the president regarding the election.

Waters was on "The Reid Out" show with Joy Reid on MSNBC when she made the comments Tuesday. She recited a list of lawsuits that President Donald Trump and his team had filed in an attempt to overturn the results of the election and called it, "the highest form of voter suppression."

She went on to claim that Democrats could not negotiate with Republicans on the coronavirus relief bill.

"Either they are so afraid so intimidated so bullied by the president of the United States, they can't stand up for Democracy, and the Constitution. That is hard to believe, hard to understand," said Waters.

"But when people say to us, 'why don't you negotiate with them on coronavirus-19 response, and help the people, why can't you come to an agreement?' Do you understand what we're dealing with?" she asked rhetorically.

"We're dealing with people who [are] willing to undermine their Democracy, people who have claimed to be patriots, people who don't have any respect for the Constitution, and you expect us to be able to sit down with them, and for them to negotiate with us in good faith!" Waters added.

"This is awful, the world is watching," she concluded.

While Waters only implied that Democrats wouldn't work with Republicans on getting relief to Americans suffering from the economic effect of the coronavirus lockdowns, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) outright admitted it was the case in an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also lashed out at a CNN reporter when he pointed out that Democrats were settling for far less in the relief package when they stalled before the election.

Here's the video of Waters' comments:

Maxine Waters DEFENDS holding up coronavirus relief for struggling Americans because Democrats shouldn't debase the… https://t.co/yOGB1e10PC
— Curtis Houck (@Curtis Houck)1608077638.0

Companies connected to Gov. Gavin Newsom received nearly $3 million in federal PPP loans: report



At least eight companies partially owned by California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) received millions of dollars through the Paycheck Protection Program, according to a new report.

PlumpJack, a wine business Newsom started in 1992, received nearly $3 million in PPP loans, according to a report from KGO-TV. The Small Business Administration's loan program "helps businesses keep their workforce employed during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis."

PlumpJack Management Group LLC includes five restaurants and bars, four Napa Valley wineries, a ski resort, and retail establishments, according to the company. At least nine companies affiliated with the PlumpJack Group received PPP loans, the report states.

One of the companies featured in the report is Villa Encinal Partners Limited Partnership, which has 14 employees and received a loan for $918,720 on April 14, 2020, just 11 days after the lending program launched, according to SBA data. Villa Encinal Partners Limited Partnership is linked to the PlumpJack winery in Napa, according to state records.

The Small Business Administration requires companies to spend 60% of PPP loans on wages.

"Hypothetically, if divided equally, each of them would've received around $40,000 to cover their payroll over a period of three months — that would amount to an annual salary of around $160,000 per employee," KGO-TV stated.

California wineries that received more than $900,000 in PPP funding had an average of 148 employees, according to the report.

Analysis from the report found that small businesses in California with 14 employees received an average PPP loan amount of $128,000; Villa Encinal Partners LP received seven times that amount.

"It's unexpected for a 14 employee organization to get nearly $1 million," said Sean Moulton, a senior policy analyst with the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight. "The purpose behind this program was to save entry-level jobs, people going in and working on that paycheck. That was what we put this out there for, to stop unemployment.

"It seems to be a small business but it got a lot of money," Moulton added. "I'm not sure how the company justifies taking that much money when there were a lot of companies looking to get assistance. You hope they're using it wisely because there's an opportunity cost there — that money didn't get used for another small business that may be out of business now."

Moulton, who specializes in tracking PPP funds, said the companies could have been given preferential treatment "not because the governor asked for it, but because of all the connections that exist."

In 2018, Newsom placed his ownership interests in the PlumpJack Group into a blind trust. The Democratic governor of California is listed on the PlumpJack Group website as the founder, and his sister Hilary Newsom is listed as the company's president and partner.

The PlumpJack Management Group released a statement:

Like many other companies facing extreme financial duress during the pandemic, we used loan monies to protect our workers and keep them employed. Our staff members and their loved ones have depended on these programs for their livelihoods. Gavin Newsom is not affiliated with the operation of the companies in any way. Any suggestion otherwise is unequivocally false.

Jesse Melgar, Newsom's communications director, responded by saying, "Before taking office, the Governor transferred title and control of the businesses he founded to a blind trust, a step that goes beyond anything required by law."

Horowitz: GOP to sign on to trillion-dollar COVID bill to ‘stimulate’ lockdowns



If we are going to enslave our children with incorrigible debt by spending endless trillions of dollars on a stimulus bill, why won't Republicans at least ensure the funding stimulates growth rather than facilitating more lockdowns?

The mayor of Los Angeles has now essentially criminalized basic physical and economic activity outside one's home. Nearly every state is doubling down on eight months of failed policies that dangerously violate our core liberties and crush our lives and our economy. Republicans are now prepared to underwrite yet another bill that will enable them to continue this nuclear winter on America's economy rather than at least using the funds as a carrot and stick to end the lockdowns and violations of civil liberties.

Last week, a bipartisan group of liberal senators unveiled a draft bill to throw another $908 billion at the COVID economic crisis they helped create. The group of senators includes Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Angus King (I-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Mark Warner (D-Va.). In addition, Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) indicated they would support the broad framework.

Undoubtedly, our politicians owe small business owners reparations for shutting down their businesses. But who should bear the burden for those policies? The ones who perpetrated them: the state and local governments. Let them be forced to either raise taxes to pay for them or to end the lockdowns altogether. I'm not against the $288 billion in the bill for small businesses, but it should come with strings attached to the states.

Also, the bill spends another $180 billion on unemployment benefits. A stimulus bill should stimulate employment, not unemployment. It should offer tax and regulatory incentives to business owners and perhaps certain employees to work – not to stay locked down.

Moreover, the bill gives state and local governments another $180 billion. Yes, the very people who are shutting down our lives, who belong in jail for their abuse of power, are being rewarded by Republicans with a massive slush fund to pay off special interests and further spy on us and enforce COVID fascism.

To add insult to injury, the proposed "stimulus" would throw another $80 billion at the education system. But for what? Zoom classes? More mask mandates and social isolation of our children? The evidence is now clear that children should be left alone to live their lives normally, yet this bill would not even pretend to use the funding to incentivize school districts to end the child abuse.

Almost every other line item of this bill fuels the counterproductive nature of the status quo from these states. The draft plan will basically underwrite every lockdown goal of the local fascists. Not only would Congress hand money to schools without conditioning it on full reopening, but the bill spends another $10 billion on child care. The premise of this funding is to help parents stay employed while their children are out of school. But again, how about a bill incentivizing more schooling, thereby obviating the need for childcare funding to begin with?

Likewise, the bill throws more money at "opioid treatment." However, the reason why there is a massive increase in drug abuse is because of the depression brought on by the lockdowns and school closures that this bill helps stimulate and perpetuate. The proposal would further fund food and nutrition programs to the tune of $26 billion, but we already spend an enormous sum through the school systems. Reopen the schools and you will solve that problem.

The most tragic and ironic outcome of these "stimulus" bills, which help ensure cowardly governors can keep kids out of school without suffering the consequences, is that the children are the ones who will pay for this unfunded liability. They are paying for the destruction wrought by lockdowns, and they will pay all the debt on the bills that are allowing these governors to virtue-signal on the taxpayer dime.

The bill also offers billions in additional funding for contact tracing, aka spying on the American people. How can Republicans sign off on this without first fixing the problem with overly sensitive PCR testing that ensures the contact tracing and quarantines are locking down the wrong people?

The proposal further bails out the airlines with another $45 billion, after they received hundreds of billions earlier this year. Airlines are abusing passengers (even more than usual) with draconian mask mandates. It's time for them to own their miserable travel accommodations, which were terrible even before COVID, and suffer the consequences.

Republicans, especially those running in the Georgia Senate runoffs, incessantly accuse Democrats of promoting socialism. But when it comes to the most expensive market-distorting bills, they are pushing them right alongside the Democrats. If this is not socialism, then what is?

Bernie Sanders admits Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats walked away from coronavirus relief bill offered by Republicans



Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) admitted that Democrats walked away from a coronavirus bill that the Republicans had put on the table.

Sanders made the comments during an interview with Jake Tapper on his CNN show Monday. He also voiced his opposition to a compromise bill to which Democrats had signaled approval.

"Well, you talked about that $1.8 trillion bill that the White House, Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary, was working on with the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) um, the Democrats walked away from that bill," Tapper said.

"Thats right!" interrupted Sanders.

"...because they wanted $2.2 trillion and they walked away from $1.8 trillion. Was that a mistake?" Tapper asked.

"Thats what I'm saying! That's exactly what I'm saying!" exclaimed Sanders.

"Here was a proposal much much larger, Democrats are, 'no that's not good enough,' and now we're prepared to accept a proposal that has I think $350 billion dollars in new money?" Sanders continued.

Sanders argued that the bill being negotiated didn't have enough of what Democrats and progressives wanted, and that the Democrats were going to give the Republicans "everything they want" in the proposed bill.

"I don't think this is much of a compromise, I think the Republicans have probably gotten 90% of what they want. Our job is to fight and get at least a 50-50 deal," Sanders said in the interview. "We gotta do a lot better and negotiate a lot harder."

Others have questioned the Democrats' rationale behind their acceptance of a bill that had far less than a previous bill that they rejected. On Friday, Pelosi snapped at a CNN reporter for asking her to explain why they were accepting the compromise bill.

"Let me tell you something!" Pelosi scolded CNN's Manu Raju.

"Don't characterize what we did before as a mistake, as a preface to your question, if you want an answer!" she added.

"That was not a mistake!" Pelosi exclaimed. "It was a decision, and it's taking us to a place where we can do the right thing, without other, shall we say, considerations in the legislation that we don't want."

Pelosi went on to say that the big difference between the previous bill and the current bill was that former Vice President Joe Biden was going to govern according to the guidance of the scientific community. President Donald Trump is still contesting the results of the Nov. 3 election.

Here's more of the interview with Sanders on CNN:

“What we need is a compromise. I know I can’t get everything that I want, but this bill really isn’t a compromise.… https://t.co/VGpxTRSmAR
— The Lead CNN (@The Lead CNN)1607377486.0

Ted Cruz torches Alyssa Milano after she tries to blame Republicans for standoff on coronavirus relief



Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas took on liberal actress Alyssa Milano after she tried to blame him and his fellow Republicans for the lack of a deal on a new coronavirus aid package.

The Twitter feud began after Cruz posted a comment about the changing demographics of the Democratic Party based on statistics about the changing voting habits of the highest earning counties in the U.S.

"Today's Dems are the party of the rich. GOP is and should be the party of the working class," Cruz said.

Today’s Dems are the party of the rich. GOP is and should be the party of the working class. https://t.co/WMTDtKTzwU
— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz)1606608071.0

Milano, a vehement and vocal critic of President Donald Trump and the Republican party, criticized Cruz in response.

"This is hilarious. Why is the GOP blocking covid relief from working class families if it's the party of working class? Or blocking the bill to raise minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour. Sit down," Milano tweeted, garnering almost 800 retweets for the retort.

"Alyssa, facts matter. Dems have TWICE filibustered $500Bn in emergency COVID relief," tweeted Cruz in response.

Alyssa, facts matter. Dems have TWICE filibustered $500Bn in emergency COVID relief.EVERY SINGLE Senate Dem voted… https://t.co/CN3OvfOgxr
— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz)1606751171.0

"EVERY SINGLE Senate Dem voted to block relief — Pelosi refuses even to talk — bc they believe maximizing economic pain helped Biden & it helps Dems in GA," he added, "[and] they trust the press to cover for them."

Milano responded but ignored the specific points that Cruz raised in order to continue to blame Republicans.

"The American people aren't dumb, Ted. 14 million children and 5.5 million seniors don't have enough food to eat in this country and your party wants to bail out corporations and wealthy sycophants. Your president would rather claim unsubstantiated election fraud than govern," she tweeted.

Cruz made similar arguments when socialist Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York attempted to make the same accusations against Republicans.

While experts are cautioning against opening up the economy in light of what appears to be a second spike in coronavirus cases, many workers and business owners are speaking out against lockdown measures and arguing that they are far too draconian.

Here's more about the battle for the next relief bill:

Can Congress reach a stimulus agreement ahead of potential government shutdown?www.youtube.com

MSNBC's Chris Hayes admits it's 'a little nuts' that Pelosi is stalling on coronavirus relief



MSNBC's Chris Hayes appeared exasperated at why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was stalling on a deal on coronavirus relief.

Hayes made the comments in a question to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on his show Tuesday.

"The president is all over the place, and doesn't have the attention span to concentrate on this for more than five minutes," said Hayes.

"[Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)'s caucus hates the idea of passing a big rescue bill, and the House wants one, but the thing I can't quite understand is that it seemed like there was a tentative deal at say $1.8 trillion between the White House and [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin and the speaker," Hayes continued.

"And the speaker was on CNN today saying no, that's not good enough, and that strikes a lot of people as a little nuts like, if that were the deal, wouldn't you all take it?" he asked.

"Well, the speaker is right," responded Schumer.

"First of all the $1.8 is not really the $1.8 that meets America's needs. As she said, it contains all sorts of giveaways so the president can just give away money and leaves out huge numbers of things that are needed to help people," claimed Schumer.

Hayes was referring to a combative interview where Pelosi angrily berated CNN host Wolf Blitzer for pressuring her on the relief bill negotiations.

Blitzer demanded to know why the speaker had not personally spoke to President Donald Trump to further the relief negotiations along, but Pelosi became very belligerent and accused Blitzer of being an "apologist" for the Republicans.

Critics of the president have accused him of also mucking up the progress on a bill after he announced that he would be pulling out of negotiations with the Democrats until after the election. Three days later he relented and said that not only would he seek a relief bill before the election but that he wanted one bigger than the one the Democrats were seeking, and bigger than the one that congressional Republicans were seeking.

Here's the video of Hayes' incredulity:

"It contains all sorts of giveaways, so the president can just give away money, and leaves out huge numbers of thin… https://t.co/epH7LNgRAw
— MSNBC (@MSNBC)1602640824.0