Yeah, I read it again it does start with the "China wants to be the ONLY ones to annoint the next Dalai Lama" and then pivots to "nope, we support Tibet people only on that".
Still completely and utterly unnecessary in a COVID relief bill.
Current Affairs General US politics (ie, not POTUS related)
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Still completely and utterly unnecessary in a COVID relief bill.
Osamabindiesel
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I honestly can’t blame Trump for vetoing that even if 2000 is unrealistic. So much unnecessary spending from both sides and they are even trying to sneak that crazy DMCA law in there. Why hike up inflation even more for a measly 600 bucks? I hate Congress
I sure as hell can.
If he would have been bothered to read his own budget those are funds the White House requested and the two bills got combined so they might have an easier time getting through as they had delayed so long on the Covid one which Trump made zero effort to hurry up through the summer
And now with UI running out on Saturday and eviction moratoriums coming to an end he suddenly decides to pay attention to spending and put any help for those suffering at risk when he has spent like a drunken sailor on far less productive things like the wall. All because he is mad that Mitch recognized Biden.
Osamabindiesel
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That’s completely fair, but the point remains that nobody in Congress or the White House for that matter give a hoot about their own people. Passing that bill would have been a disaster. And I agree that this stuff should have been sorted months ago. They are all a bunch of children.
Don’t think passing it would have been a disaster, although imperfect think it gave much needed help to a lot of people. We can fully agree that all of this should have been sorted months ago.
Osamabindiesel
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I just feel that if there we a time not to be partisan, it would be now. All of the poison pills, foreign interests and lobbying should be put aside for one moment. This bill is too late. Not only that- it’s crap and the American people are going to pay a price for it. 600 dollars ffs. I get some people need money now. But it’s so late and it isn’t nearly enough.
That would be the West Wing ideal yes but in reality there are a good number of people who are walking out the door in Jan and the rest of them don’t face re-election for at least another 12 months so leverage options by bad actors are pretty high.
And whilst I am sure there is some fraud/waste in there I am not entirely convinced that if I knew more of the details of of some of the items I wouldn’t end up agreeing they were worthwhile - “funding for bat research in conjunction with the Wuhan institute of virology” would have been line item most of us would have cut a year ago for instance!
And money for teaching Iraq schoolchildren to read seems to have a much better ROI on both a moral and practical level than hiring a bunch of Blackwater goons to shoot them in cold blood so generally I would start with the gargantuan defense spending if I was going to start writing “denied” with a red pen.
We agree the COVID bill is too late and not enough, I’d have much preferred the House one in May that gave iirc $1200 iirc or the Sanders/Harris bill in July that was $2000. But between it and nothing I’d pass it and hope to get some more in Jan
carolinablue232
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Can someone more educated on the subject than I explain why at this point some feel it is appropriate to borrow money and then send it immediately overseas? There’s a lot of stupidity in Washington, but helping your own people, who both sides know are hurting, seems like it should take precedence. I assume I’m missing something because on the face of it, McCarthy is making a logical argument.
I’m not claiming to be particularly educated in the subject mate but my two cents fwiw is that we share this planet with many others, some in quite dire situations, and so it feels appropriate to help out here and there. Especially as we as a nation have done quite a lot of things that have made life worse for other nations so on a karmic debt sense it might be a good idea to redress that a bit.
Also foreign aid makes up such a tiny proportion of the budget (typically less than 1%) that even I didn’t agree with it in principal, cutting it all out would in practice make very little difference financially.
What every American should know about US foreign aid | Brookings
George Ingram provides explanations for popular myths surrounding U.S. foreign aid policy and its impacts.
www.brookings.edu
My final reason for supporting it is that generally it is hypocritical bellends like Rand Paul that most moan about it and I’ve found “if in doubt, disagree with what Rand Paul says“ isn’t too bad a motto.
I mean here he is on his “festivus grievances” thread complaining about waste whilst simultaneously boasting about going golfing on taxpayer dime with POTUS
No mention of how much that particular activity has cost us over the past four years, especially some of the quite ludicrous foreign side trips
New Report Shows Taxpayers Foot the Bill for President Trump’s $1 Million Weekend Golf Trip to His Resort in Scotland
Washington, D.C. (Mar. 23, 2020)—Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Senator Tom Carper, and Senator Elizabeth Warren issued the following statement after a new report put the total amount of taxpayer funds spent as a result of President...
TN Toffee
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Leave it to Ron Paul to figure out a way to douse the fun, silly tradition that is Festivus with a five gallon bucket of ice cold water.
Also, why throw in that little detail about Trump ordering for him? What kind of grown man allows another man to order for him at a restaurant? I can just picture the two of them rocking up to a Michelin star restaurant for dinner and Trump requesting two well done hamburgers with ketchup only and an order of mozzarella sticks for them to share.
carolinablue232
Player Valuation: £70m
I’m not claiming to be particularly educated in the subject mate but my two cents fwiw is that we share this planet with many others, some in quite dire situations, and so it feels appropriate to help out here and there. Especially as we as a nation have done quite a lot of things that have made life worse for other nations so on a karmic debt sense it might be a good idea to redress that a bit.
Also foreign aid makes up such a tiny proportion of the budget (typically less than 1%) that even I didn’t agree with it in principal, cutting it all out would in practice make very little difference financially.
What every American should know about US foreign aid | Brookings
George Ingram provides explanations for popular myths surrounding U.S. foreign aid policy and its impacts.
My final reason for supporting it is that generally it is hypocritical bellends like Rand Paul that most moan about it and I’ve found “if in doubt, disagree with what Rand Paul says“ isn’t too bad a motto.
I mean here he is on his “festivus grievances” thread complaining about waste whilst simultaneously boasting about going golfing on taxpayer dime with POTUS
No mention of how much that particular activity has cost us over the past four years, especially some of the quite ludicrous foreign side trips
or also how much the bill for COVID testing/cleaning of the Senate was because Rand couldn’t keep his self-entitled arse at home whilst he waited for his test results to come back.New Report Shows Taxpayers Foot the Bill for President Trump’s $1 Million Weekend Golf Trip to His Resort in Scotland
Washington, D.C. (Mar. 23, 2020)—Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Senator Tom Carper, and Senator Elizabeth Warren issued the following statement after a new report put the total amount of taxpayer funds spent as a result of President...oversight.house.gov
I’m not objecting to the broader idea of foreign aid, especially when times are good. I’m objecting to it being a priority over the American people who need help yesterday. If that’s in any way a dealbreaker in getting support to the constituents who elected these people, it shouldn’t be. Stop the grandstanding on both sides. Get only Covid relief figured out as a priority, and fight over the rest of it again next year.
But it wasn’t a dealbreaker, at least not until POTUS stuck his oar in - the two bills combined had sailed through both House and Senate with veto proof majorities. It is only because of a particular confluence of circumstances that POTUS can use a procedure known as a “pocket veto” that things are back up in the air again.
And foreign aid hasn’t been the thing that has for months stopped an additional Covid bill - McConnell for a very long time simply didn’t think it was needed.
I also very much doubt that even if all the foreign aid was removed this particular time it would increase that $600. But I agree that given how urgent everything is now that keeping the foreign aid in isn’t a negotiation hill I’d consider worth dying on. However I do think it is being used as a smokescreen for other issues and quite frankly for Trump to just throw everyone back into chaos.
TN Toffee
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Personally I’d rather they forget the blanket direct payments to everyone and instead pour that money into higher weekly dollar amounts for unemployment and more aid to businesses to put them in a more advantageous position so they aren’t forced to decide between their physical and financial health.
There are obviously a lot of people in desperate need of money right now, and while just throwing everyone a set amount of money is probably logistically easier, it also ends up with a lot of people who are weathering the pandemic just fine getting a check. I had no need for the $1200 they sent me back in the spring, and don’t have any need for another $600 (much less $2k) right now. If we’re going to borrow or just print all this money, it just makes sense to try and get it to the people who need it most, even if that requires a little more work.
There are obviously a lot of people in desperate need of money right now, and while just throwing everyone a set amount of money is probably logistically easier, it also ends up with a lot of people who are weathering the pandemic just fine getting a check. I had no need for the $1200 they sent me back in the spring, and don’t have any need for another $600 (much less $2k) right now. If we’re going to borrow or just print all this money, it just makes sense to try and get it to the people who need it most, even if that requires a little more work.
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