WASHINGTON – The Labor Department’s November jobs report shows that the Trump recession shows no signs of slowing down — leaving behind a worsening mess for President-elect Joe Biden. The unemployment rate is at an unacceptably high 6.7 percent and an even worse 10.3 percent in the African American community. More than 20 million Americans continue to draw jobless benefits amid an uncontrolled pandemic that has claimed the lives of nearly 270,000 Americans and is expected to claim hundreds of thousands more. This on top of a “benefits cliff” and eviction crisis looming just weeks away. Yet, Trump’s top Senate ally Mitch McConnell continues to drag his feet on delivering urgently needed relief for workers, small businesses and states — dismissing a growing number of colleagues from his own party that are ready to support a serious bipartisan pandemic package.
“Mitch McConnell is apparently ready to ruin the holidays and the economy for working families and small businesses unless he gets his way. His plan to shower corporations, millionaires, and CEOs with more handouts while giving virtually nothing to struggling workers and their families is beyond unacceptable,” said Jeremy Funk, spokesperson for Accountable.US. “McConnell must pass a serious relief bill to provide help where it is actually needed, like the communities of color that were left behind during previous pandemic relief efforts.”
After letting the House-passed HEROES Act to collect dust on his desk since May and wasting months trying to pack the federal courts, the FEC, and Fed Board with with as many controversial and unqualified Trump nominees as possible, McConnell claims he’s now ready to play ball on pandemic relief. Yet rather than meet in the middle, McConnell demands everyone join him on the extreme right with his own “skinny” proposal that does not begin to meet the magnitude of the crises families are suffering through. McConnell wants more non-starter tax breaks for the wealthy, more giveaways to big coal, and blanket immunity for corporations against claims from workers mistreated during the pandemic. McConnell’s plan doesn’t provide a penny for extra unemployment benefits, stimulus checks, or rental assistance, and does nothing to fix the major flaws in the PPP that left most Black-owned small businesses in the cold.
Common Dreams | Radio Free (2020-12-04T17:44:42+00:00) Unemployment Remains Unacceptably High as McConnell Again Lowballs Struggling Families. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2020/12/04/unemployment-remains-unacceptably-high-as-mcconnell-again-lowballs-struggling-families/
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