{"id":16743,"date":"2020-03-24T11:59:35","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T17:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=16743"},"modified":"2020-03-24T11:59:35","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T17:59:35","slug":"an-economic-relief-stimulus-bill-rant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2020\/03\/an-economic-relief-stimulus-bill-rant.html","title":{"rendered":"An economic relief\/stimulus bill rant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"
https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AMoney_Cash.jpg; By Jericho [CC BY 3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>Here\u2019s the latest<\/a> on the stimulus\/relief bill making its way through Congress:<\/p>\n

Democratic lawmakers are blocking the stimulus bill proposed in Congress, slamming their Republican colleagues for refusing to include reparations for transgender Native Americans affected by climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we aren\u2019t handing billions of dollars to Native Americans with gender dysphoria displaced by our current climate emergency, then what are we even doing here?\u201d shouted Chuck Schumer in a scathing speech outside the Capitol Building. \u201cThe American people are waiting for us to pass this bill, and the evil Republicans are stubbornly insisting we don\u2019t earmark billions for our transgender indigenous brothers and sisters and others.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OK, fine, actually, that\u2019s the Babylon Bee.<\/p>\n

But the real version of the stimulus bill put forth by House Democrats has so many appalling provisions that it\u2019s hard to tell the difference.<\/p>\n

And, yes, I know that there are serious objections that the Senate Republicans\u2019 bill provides too much money to big business without oversight.\u00a0 But the scale of what the Democrats have done is so appalling to me that \u2014 well, I wrote an article at Forbes which I tried diligently to focus on the retirement elements but I ultimately had to ask my editor to tell me what I really knew already, that it was too political and not retirement-oriented enough to be suitable.<\/p>\n

I am also reading, in the meantime, that the Senate bill will be the basis of whatever finally comes out of negotiations, which means that everything the House Democrats did was just for show, to play to their base, or as a negotiating tactic, or as, I don\u2019t know, indulging in some kind of fantasy.\u00a0 But here\u2019s what I\u2019ve seen in the bill myself (based on the text currently at Congress.gov<\/a>) \u2014 and that\u2019s only a small fraction of its enormous economic crisis-unrelated provisions.<\/p>\n

What set me off was Division T, Title IV.\u00a0 That\u2019s the Butch Lewis Act.\u00a0 If you read what I write at Forbes, you\u2019ll know that I think that this is offering false promises to truckers and other multiemployer plan participants.\u00a0 As stand-alone legislation, it\u2019s been rejected by the Senate because it claims to rescue multiemployer plans by providing them loans (which have a balloon payment of all the principal after 30 years, which is then forgiven if the plan can\u2019t afford to pay) rather than providing a direct solution, and it lacks any funding or other reforms going forward.<\/p>\n

But then you\u2019ve got way more.<\/p>\n

Division R (airline funding), section 702 is a sort of \u201ccash for clunkers\u201d for aircraft, except that instead of rendering the planes destroyed and using them for scrap, they\u2019re to be used for parts.\u00a0 There are also provisions requiring carbon offsets and fuel-efficiency targets.<\/p>\n

Section 208 of that division specifies that all airline employees, and all independent contractors doing work for airlines, must henceforth be paid $15.00 per hour.<\/p>\n

Division I, Financial Services, section 407, requires that for any \u201caccelerated filer\u201d corporation receiving assistance, permanently, 1\/3 of its directors must be chosen by workers via election.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what an \u201caccelerated filer\u201d is and I couldn\u2019t find that in the definitions, but this is garbage.<\/p>\n

Also in 407, all corporations receiving aid must boost their minimum wage to $15\/hour.\u00a0 And, again, permanently, the ratio of median worker pay to CEO pay must not be greater than 50:1.\u00a0 Permanently.<\/p>\n

And until the crisis is deemed to have ended, corporations receiving aid must keep the same workforce level, the same benefits, the same pay for all workers, including contractors.\u00a0 No reduced hours permitted.<\/p>\n

Section 100115 of Division J provides for $10,000 student loan forgiveness for everyone.<\/p>\n

Division T, section 405 provides that a pension plan for a charity that \u201cwho been in existence since at least 1938, who conducts medical research directly or indirectly through grant making, and whose primary exempt purpose is to provide services w\/r\/t mothers and children\u201d will be able to be deemed a \u201csmall employer charity pension plan<\/a>\u201d and given exemptions from various pension plan funding requirements.<\/p>\n

Others have found more:\u00a0 enabling \u201cballot harvesting\u201d in all 50 states, expansive collective bargaining boosts, endless requirements for diversity and inclusion, and more.<\/p>\n

This is appalling.<\/p>\n

Again, it may indeed be the case that absolutely none of this comes to pass.<\/p>\n

But at the same time, there were legitimate provisions tucked in there.\u00a0 I wrote at Forbes yesterday<\/a> about an issue facing traditional pension plans, who need to save their cash but are facing a \u201cquarterly contribution\u201d on April 15.\u00a0 The House bill defers that contribution.\u00a0 The (most recently publicly available) Senate version does not.\u00a0 Will all the garbage provisions in the House bill mean that this \u201cfunding relief\u201d \u2014 and whatever else is legitimate but not visible to my eyes because I don\u2019t know the issues \u2014\u00a0 will be lost when the final compromise is hammered out?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s the latest on the stimulus\/relief bill making its way through Congress: Democratic lawmakers are blocking the stimulus bill proposed in Congress, slamming their Republican colleagues for refusing to include reparations for transgender Native Americans affected by climate change. \u201cIf we aren\u2019t handing billions of dollars to Native Americans with gender dysphoria displaced by our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":5466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[598,1425],"class_list":["post-16743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-pension-funding","tag-stimulus"],"yoast_head":"\nAn economic relief\/stimulus bill rant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's the latest on the stimulus\/relief bill making its way through Congress: Democratic 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