{"id":66123,"date":"2021-03-05T15:48:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T15:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=5936688ec353acd9d313a79acc37c825"},"modified":"2021-03-05T15:48:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T15:48:19","slug":"gop-goes-all-in-to-obstruct-relief-bill-nine-days-before-jobless-benefits-expire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/03\/05\/gop-goes-all-in-to-obstruct-relief-bill-nine-days-before-jobless-benefits-expire\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Goes All In to Obstruct Relief Bill Nine Days Before Jobless Benefits Expire"},"content":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/gop-goes-all-in-to-obstruct-relief-bill-nine-days-before-jobless-benefits-expire\/\"><img width=\"200\" height=\"128\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021_0305-ron-johnson-rand-paul-200x128.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Sens. Ron Johnson and Rand Paul arrive at Dirksen Building on December 8, 2020.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021_0305-ron-johnson-rand-paul-200x128.jpg 200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021_0305-ron-johnson-rand-paul-400x257.jpg 400w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021_0305-ron-johnson-rand-paul-1200x770.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021_0305-ron-johnson-rand-paul-800x513.jpg 800w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021_0305-ron-johnson-rand-paul-1536x986.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021_0305-ron-johnson-rand-paul-2048x1314.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021_0305-ron-johnson-rand-paul-2400x1540.jpg 2400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><p>Republican lawmakers, led by Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, are attempting to grind the Senate to a halt to delay passage of a sprawling $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package as Democrats race to get the legislation to President Joe Biden&#8217;s desk before March 14, when millions of jobless Americans will begin losing their unemployment lifelines.<\/p>\n<p>After the Senate on Thursday afternoon approved a procedural motion to begin consideration of the aid bill \u2014 with all 50 Republicans voting no \u2014 Johnson objected to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer&#8217;s (D-N.Y.) request for unanimous consent to dispense with the reading of the bill in order to start debate, forcing the Senate staff to read aloud all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.budget.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/American%20Rescue%20Plan%20Act%20SENATE.pdf\">628 pages<\/a> (pdf) of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jim_newell\/status\/1367507304061493251\">legislative text<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What followed was nearly 11 hours of barely comprehensible speed-reading by alternating Senate staffers to a nearly empty chamber; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AndrewSolender\/status\/1367575102141968395\">not even Johnson<\/a>, who forced the reading, remained on the floor through the whole process, which finally came to an end at around 2:00 am ET Friday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When Sen. Johnson voted to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans, he didn&#8217;t force staff to read the bill,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenatorBennet\/status\/1367574674012573702\">tweeted<\/a> Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). &#8220;But now that working people need help, he&#8217;s forcing a delay.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">518,000 Americans are dead from this pandemic, struggling families desperately need help \u2013 and every single Senate Republican just tried to stop the COVID-19 relief bill. They should be ashamed. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1dve3uL1WN\">pic.twitter.com\/1dve3uL1WN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenWarren\/status\/1367578501390467083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Johnson&#8217;s stunt likely represented just the start of Republican efforts to delay passage of a popular bill that would send direct relief checks to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/03\/04\/stop-nickel-and-diming-american-people-anger-grows-senate-democrats-move-deny-relief\">estimated 280 million people<\/a> in the U.S., extend and boost unemployment benefits, significantly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2021\/02\/10\/child-tax-credit-what-you-need-to-know\/\">expand<\/a> the child tax credit, bolster coronavirus vaccine distribution efforts, deliver aid to state and local governments, and more.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday afternoon, the Senate is expected to kick off the notorious and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/02\/04\/so-utterly-disingenuous-republicans-file-slew-unrelated-amendments-dems-push-ahead\">dreaded vote-a-rama<\/a>, which Republican lawmakers are expected to drag out by putting forth a slew of unrelated and doomed-to-fail amendments to the $1.9 trillion package, potentially delaying a final vote for days. The package will then return to the House, which will have to decide whether to make changes or simply push through the Senate&#8217;s version.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Historically what&#8217;s happened is&#8230; we offer a couple of hundred amendments on the Republican side,&#8221; Johnson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2021\/03\/04\/senate-biden-covid-relief-debate-473617\">said<\/a> Thursday. &#8220;And we get a couple of dozen voted on, and people tire out. I&#8217;m coming up with a process that keeps people from tiring out. I&#8217;m getting sign-ups. I&#8217;m laying out a three-shift schedule.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Asked how long he wants the amendment process to last, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/huddle\/2021\/03\/03\/gop-senators-plan-infinity-vote-a-rama-for-covid-bill-491974\">said<\/a> earlier this week, &#8220;I&#8217;m hoping for infinity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, noted on Twitter that Republicans are delaying &#8220;a relief package that 76% of Americans support \u2014 including 60% of Republicans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The goal isn&#8217;t compromise,&#8221; said Jayapal, &#8220;it&#8217;s obstruction of all of our priorities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In response to new Labor Department figures showing that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sdonnan\/status\/1367472183241568260\">more than a million Americans<\/a> filed initial unemployment claims last week, Jeremy Funk, spokesperson for Accountable.US, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accountable.us\/news\/as-745000-more-lose-jobs-senate-republicans-plot-infinite-delay-on-popular-biden-pandemic-relief-bill\/\">statement<\/a> Thursday that &#8220;in the face of ongoing economic struggles due to the pandemic, all Senate Republicans seem to want to do is listen to themselves talk.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If the polls are any judge, the only political points they&#8217;re scoring with obstruction are against themselves,&#8221; said Funk. &#8220;The longer McConnell and company hold back help, the longer the Trump recession will be \u2014 and the public won\u2019t soon forget who sat on their $1,400 checks in the middle of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">They are doing this for a relief package that 76% of Americans support\u2014including 60% of Republicans. The goal isn\u2019t compromise, it\u2019s obstruction of all of our priorities. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KNHHVhwTm7\">https:\/\/t.co\/KNHHVhwTm7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PramilaJayapal\/status\/1367570273705357312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>One expected amendment that is actually relevant to the relief package is Sen. Bernie Sanders&#8217; (I-Vt.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/03\/02\/urging-senate-ignore-parliamentarian-sanders-force-vote-15-minimum-wage-amendment\">$15 minimum wage proposal<\/a>, a last-ditch effort to include the pay raise in the aid bill after the Senate parliamentarian advised that it runs afoul of budget reconciliation rules.<\/p>\n<p>Originally a part of the $1.9 trillion package, Senate Democrats removed the $15 wage provision following the unelected parliamentarian&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/02\/25\/im-sorry-says-ro-khanna-unelected-parliamentarian-does-not-get-deprive-32-million\">advisory opinion<\/a>, which Vice President Kamala Harris is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/02\/26\/progressives-vp-kamala-harris-not-difficult-decision-use-your-power-keep-15\">refusing to overrule<\/a> despite having the constitutional authority to do so. Sanders is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2021\/03\/02\/urging-senate-ignore-parliamentarian-sanders-force-vote-15-minimum-wage-amendment\">urging<\/a> the Senate Democratic majority to ignore the parliamentarian&#8217;s advice and approve the long-overdue wage increase.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Many millions of workers are earning starvation wages \u2014 and I underline that, starvation wages \u2014 in this country,&#8221; Sanders said Thursday in a floor speech making the case for his amendment. &#8220;I&#8217;d love to hear anybody get up here and tell me that they could live on $7.25 an hour, they could live on 8 bucks an hour, they could live on 9 bucks an hour \u2014 you can&#8217;t.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Watch:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"LIVE: Why It&#039;s Time To Eliminate The Tipped Minimum Wage Of $2.13 An Hour\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w8CfhgScPOM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/gop-goes-all-in-to-obstruct-relief-bill-nine-days-before-jobless-benefits-expire\/\">Latest \u2013 Truthout<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/gop-goes-all-in-to-obstruct-relief-bill-nine-days-before-jobless-benefits-expire\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"128\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2021_0305-ron-johnson-rand-paul-200x128.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Sens. Ron Johnson and Rand Paul arrive at Dirksen Building on December 8, 2020.\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">Republican lawmakers are attempting to grind the Senate to a halt to delay passage of the popular bill.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":572,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6193,4707,4402,4,276,9782],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/572"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66124,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66123\/revisions\/66124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}