{"id":804,"date":"2020-12-03T00:18:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T00:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=131141"},"modified":"2020-12-03T00:18:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T00:18:50","slug":"watch-rep-ocasio-cortez-grills-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-on-unused-cares-act-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/03\/watch-rep-ocasio-cortez-grills-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-on-unused-cares-act-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Grills Treasury Secretary Mnuchin on Unused CARES Act Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday grilled U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the return of around $175 billion in unused funds allocated for coronavirus pandemic relief.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The quarterly hearing before the House Financial Services Committee is mandated under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/116th-congress\/senate-bill\/3548\/text?q=product+actualizaci%C3%B3n\"> CARES Act,<\/a> which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in March.<\/p>\n<p>Watch:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Rep. Ocasio-Cortez urges Secretary Mnuchin to provide COVID-19 Relief\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MlmXbG-kXoU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>The pandemic stimulus bill provided most Americans with one-time $1,200 payments, while corporations and wealthy individuals were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2020\/03\/28\/unacceptable-dems-fume-after-trump-announces-plan-refuse-congressional-oversight\">handed<\/a> more than half a trillion dollars.<\/p>\n<p>At the hearing, Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) urged Mnuchin to prevent some of the $450 billion in authorized CARES Act relief from reverting to the Treasury Department at the end of the year when the designated loan distribution period expires.<\/p>\n<p>Mnuchin has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/sarahhansen\/2020\/11\/19\/mnuchin-asks-fed-to-return-unused-cares-act-funds-nixes-emergency-programs\/?sh=1c9ac47d305f\">indicated<\/a> that he will return approximately $175 billion, even as unemployment and other economic hardship caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic persist. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are in such a desperate position given the unfortunate gridlock&#8221; in Congress, Ocasio-Cortez told Mnuchin. &#8220;We&#8217;re all aligned in interest in trying to figure out where we can explore maximum flexibility as offered by the statute.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"block-inject-16\" class=\"block-inject block-inject-16\">\n<div id=\"block-block-86\" class=\"block block--block block--block-86\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The freshman Squad member then pressed Mnuchin on the re-allocation of unused CARES Act funds.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday&#8217;s hearing came as Congress struggled to reach a deal on a new pandemic relief bill. On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/12\/02\/congressional-leaders-.html\">insisted<\/a> that a bipartisan $908 billion proposal should be the starting point for any stimulus measure\u2014a figure that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has rejected in favor of $500 billion in what he calls &#8220;targeted relief.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>McConnell on Tuesday was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2020\/12\/02\/critics-smell-economic-sabotage-mcconnell-unveils-covid-plan-0-unemployment-boost\">accused<\/a> of &#8220;economic sabotage&#8221; and of favoring corporations and the wealthy over people who desperately need relief.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Leave it to Mitch McConnell and [President] 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,&#8221; said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). &#8220;This is not a serious proposal, it is a slap in the face to people who need help.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\" xml:lang=\"en\">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 twenty million unemployed Americans.<\/p>\n<p>This is not a serious proposal, it is a slap in the face to people who need help.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepDonBeyer\/status\/1333878380035518465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 1, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>Some progressive lawmakers also rejected the $908 billion proposal, with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2020\/12\/01\/tlaib-says-lack-popular-stimulus-checks-bipartisan-relief-plan-shows-disconnect\">blasting<\/a> the bill as out of touch with the needs of everyday Americans. Tlaib especially objected to the exclusion of stimulus checks in the bill, which she said &#8220;shows the disconnect of the Senate with people on the ground.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/2020\/12\/02\/watch-rep-ocasio-cortez-grills-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-on-unused-cares-act-funding\/\">Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Wednesday grilled U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the return of around $175 billion in unused funds allocated for coronavirus pandemic relief.\u00a0 The quarterly\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804"}],"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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":805,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804\/revisions\/805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}