House Democrats in May passed a $3 trillion relief package. Last week, Senate Republicans proposed a bill that costs about $1 trillion. However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said that Democrats would not accept any relief package worth less than $2 trillion.
“There’s two main sticking points,” Rall told host John Kiriakou.
“One is about this supplemental unemployment benefit. The typical state unemployment benefits max out at about $400 a week. Back in the spring, the Congress authorized an additional $600 a week, which has basically kept the economy afloat ever since. Those expired at the end of July. There’s widespread agreement that they want some kind of benefits to continue, lest we face total economic collapse, but the Democrats want to keep the $600. The Republicans would like to drop it to $200. The Democrats have indicated that they will probably be willing to go down somewhat, perhaps to $400 or $500; they’re not saying,” Rall explained.
“The Republican conference is holding firm … and then there’s the bigger budget issue of the state and local government aid, which was in the original $3 trillion package. [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi wants another $3.4 trillion that would continue aid to the states and cities whose tax revenues have been devastated by COVID,” he added.
“The Republicans are sort of saying whatever problems the state and local governments are having are really their own fault, which is frankly silly. But that’s the talking point, and the Republicans are deeply concerned about deficits, more than anything else,” Rall continued.
On July 31, the $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit bonus expired, leaving tens of millions of unemployed Americans without that extra income.
“The unemployment insurance payout has been a remarkable success in the age of COVID. Both parties really can look back with some pride and say, ‘Look, in an economy where the GDP dropped over 30%, unemployment skyrocketed by at least 16% - these are Great Depression type numbers, but they happened faster than in the Great Depression, so in some ways, it’s a more devastating event - the Dow Jones Industrial Average is still where it was before it all started. Cities aren’t burning in great numbers. Things are stable, considering how much worse this could have been.’ This package really did work … so, why would you not keep something going that's working so extraordinarily well?” Rall explained.
The Republicans have called their so-called rescue package Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools (HEALS) Act. Under the legislation, schools would be protected from any legal liabilities related to COVID-19, thanks to a measure with the purpose of “discouraging insubstantial lawsuits relating to COVID-19 while preserving the ability of individuals and businesses that have suffered real injury to obtain complete relief."
“It’s already way too hard in this country to get justice in the courts … and this will just make it more difficult. They want to indemnify businesses against COVID-related negligence lawsuits, and now they want to do it with the schools. My personal opinion, as a father, is: I don’t think any school in this country should reopen for anything other than virtual instruction,” Rall said.
“I think it’s insane, and I think both the National Education Association, of which my mother was a longtime member, and also the American Federation of Teachers, which has authorized strikes among local and state chapters - they should both go declare a national teacher strike. No teacher should be asked to return to work. No student should be exposed to this virus,” he added.
