Senate Republicans Block Funding to Help Teachers, Law Enforcement, First Responders

That’s Just Not Part of Their Agenda

The President and his supporters are desperate to pass some type, any type of legislation that will help people devastated by The Great Stall.  Foremost among the victims are employees of state and local governments, where falling tax revenues, no new taxes and in some cases tax cuts are leaving those units no choice but to fire teachers and education workers, police and fire fighters.

To combat at least some of this the Senate took up consideration of a bill that would provide $35 billion in funding, paid for by a .5% tax increase on millionaires. Actually the Senate did not take up the bill.   The results were as expected on the attempt.

The vote to advance the bill was 50 to 50. Democrats needed 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster.

The rationale to reject this spending, entirely paid for, was mind boggling on the part of the Republicans

All Republican senators opposed the measure. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) had called the provision to help states cover the cost of public-sector workers a "bailout."

And we cannot have the government bailing out the people who teach our children and protect our lives and property who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, can we?  Bailouts are for rich people, large banks and large companies.  As for the tax to pay for the program Mr. McConnell

criticized the plan to pay for the measure with a 0.5% surcharge on incomes over $1 million, which he said would affect many small businesses.

failing of course to explain how a tax increase of $5,000 on a person with income of $2 million would have a huge impact on small businesses, or even how a person making more than $1 million from his business would even have a “small” business.

There were also other provisions of the bill that Republicans didn’t like.  One would require contractors who received government work to pay the taxes they owe. 

At the same time, senators blocked a Republican plan, advanced by Mr. McConnell, to stop the government from withholding 3% of its contractor payments and apply the money to their taxes.

See some government contractors don’t pay taxes they owe from income made from government contracts.  Of course, if the government actually got that money all they would do is just waste it on education, health care, protecting the environment, law enforcement, well, you know all those things no on wants government to do.