‘this is a Democrat grab bag special-interest giveaway to their base supporters…’
(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is proposing an unprecedented $3 trillion rescue package that purports to shore-up the economy amid Wuhan virus-induced mass unemployment and government-mandated business closures.
But critics are warning the public not to take the bait.
Pelosi, a wealthy San Francisco Democrat, has jam-packed the spending omnibus with blue-state bailout money, special interest pork, carve-outs for Democratic donors and activists, and cash giveaways for illegal aliens—in addition to trillions in unaffordable new debt.
Stephen Moore, a member of President Trump’s economic recovery panel and co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, called the proposal a monumentally shameless cash-grab.
“The new draft of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s $3 trillion plan shows she wants to go on a hog-wild spending binge that is nothing more than a wish list of liberal initiatives,” said Moore.
“The Democrats in Congress are using this deadly virus emergency as a cynical excuse to pass 30 years of failed great society/welfare state programs,” he added.
The so-called “Heroes Act” centers on sending $1 trillion to city and state governments, despite the fact that government workers have been spared by the Wuhan virus economy, unlike private-sector workers and businesses.
Moore called the move “blue state budget bailouts.”
The bill also includes $150 million for union-friendly Department of Labor programs, $100 million for new OSHA regulations, and another $20 million for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities—that’s on top of $150 million Pelosi extracted for the endowments from the recent $2 trillion CARES Act stimulus.
Perhaps the most cynical maneuver is an attempt to restore the ability of high-tax blue states like New York and California to allow wealthy residents to deduct their state and local taxes from their federal income tax liabilities.
The GOP-led “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017” stripped the carve-out and eliminated the low-tax, red-state subsidy for wealthy individuals in Democratic strongholds.
Reinstituting the deduction “would be the biggest tax cut in history for the top 1 percent in income,” said Moore.
Pelosi’s wish list almost obscures her actual proposed effort to help economically hurting Americans, which amounts to another CARES Act-like $1,200 in direct cash to individuals and $500 per child.
“We must think big, for the people, now,” Pelosi said on Tuesday from the speaker’s office at the U.S. Capitol.
“Not acting is the most expensive course,” she said.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, said the bill was a non-starter for House Republicans.
In a Wednesday interview, Banks warned of “free cash” for illegal aliens, incentives for businesses to hire illegals over American workers, assurances that businesses will not be prosecuted, and a provision that illegals cannot be deported.
But that’s not all, he warned.
The bill provides funding for Planned Parenthood against existing restrictions, includes a $25 billion bailout for the U.S. Postal Service, $75 billion for Wuhan virus testing, and $3.6 billion to states for mail-in voting which is designed to help Democrats in the November general election.
“At the end of the day, this is a Democrat grab bag special-interest giveaway to their base supporters. Not a single Republican had any input at all into this massive spending deal,” said Banks.
The Democratic House majority is expected to pass the partisan spending package on Friday but is expected to face stiff resistance in the Senate.
Senate Republicans have given the $3 trillion blowout a cold shoulder, so far.
“Donald Trump and Republicans should reject this plan and get back to what works to stimulate the economy: a payroll tax holiday which will most benefit low-income workers, deregulation, and lawsuit shields for workers and employers,” said Moore.