McConnell Blocks Vote on $2k Stimulus Payments

By Jeralyn, Section Trump Administration
Posted on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 02:57:02 PM EST
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Mitch McConnell does it again. He's blocked the vote on the increased stimulus payments sought by most of Congress and Donald Trump.

McConnell brought the chamber back this week with one major goal: overriding Trump’s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. He has not yet committed to bringing the $2,000 payment bill up for a vote, and it is unclear now how one would take shape.

Trump is also trying to get the Senate to pass something that will investigate (non-existent) election fraud in the presidential election.

Will Bernie Sanders follow through with a filibuster to block the overide vote on Trump's veto of the Defense Authorization bill? [More...]

Then, Sanders followed through on his threat to delay consideration of the veto override by objecting to a Wednesday vote.

As the Senate needs unanimous support to move quickly on most issues, any one senator can grind activity to a halt if they choose.

I'm not sure that's a great move by Bernie. It will seem to the public like the Dems blocked the vote, not McConnell. I think the Dems should keep the focus on Republicans who left their money hanging out to dry.

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McConnell Blocks Vote on $2k Stimulus Payments | 20 comments (20 topical)

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It is a Good Move by Bernie (5.00 / 2) (#16)
by msaroff on Wed Dec 30, 2020 at 10:11:00 AM EST

Bernie is not filibustering the aid package, he is filibustering the override of the Defense Authorization bill, which has the following effects:

Forces Perdue and Loeffler to stay in DC, and not campaign. (By withholding consent, it keeps the Senate in session until Jan 1)

Continues the focus on the $2000 payments.

It's a win-win, at least until the Washington Generals^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h Senate Democrats cave.

Filibuster (none / 0) (#1)
by jmacWA on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 03:00:08 PM EST

I have no problem with Bernie putting some additional pressure on McConnell, whether or not it would do any good remains to be seen.

They say Mitch (none / 0) (#2)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 04:19:58 PM EST

just introduced a bill that would

Send out $2000 checks

and

Repeal 230

AND

Create a commission to investigate election fraud.

Talk about poison pills That's a poison enema.

This sounds like the (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by MO Blue on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 04:45:24 PM EST

tactic I was pretty sure he would pursue. I wouldn't be surprised if giving companies liability protection was also included.


: Bernie is about to discuss this (none / 0) (#4)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 04:48:04 PM EST

On CNN

What's wrong with a commission (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by Chuck0 on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 05:38:15 PM EST

to investigate election fraud? It will end up like the first commission orange doofus put together. They found nothing.


And do they (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 06:03:06 PM EST

really know what they are going to get with 230? Things are going to get much worse for conservatives with 230 gone since from my experience at least conservatives are the ones that pass all the lies on social media. Trump obviously is worried about this for himself and doesn't want all his dirt all over social media.


It could be used (none / 0) (#8)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 06:19:56 PM EST

as an excuse to pass very repressive voting laws around everything from IDs to anything else they can think of.

A Republican "Commission to Investigate Voter Fraud" would not end well for voting rights.

On 230

Two myths about Section 230 have developed in recent years and clouded today's debates about the law. One says that Section 230 somehow requires online services to be "neutral public forums": that if they show "bias" in their decisions about what material to show or hide from users, they lose their liability shield under Section 230 (this myth drives today's deeply misguided "platform vs. publisher" rhetoric).
The other myth is that if Section 230 were repealed, online platforms would suddenly turn into "neutral" forums, doing nothing to remove or promote certain users' speech. Both myths ignore that Section 230 isn't what protects platforms' right to reflect any editorial viewpoint in how it moderates users' speech--the First Amendment to the Constitution is.
The First Amendment protects platforms' right to moderate and curate users' speech to reflect their views, and Section 230 additionally protects them from certain types of liability for their users' speech. It's not one or the other; it's both.

Honestly (none / 0) (#11)
by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 07:04:41 PM EST

we have ID voting here in GA. The problem is largely not that you have to have an ID but the hoops you have to jump through to get an ID. A simple repeal of the Real ID Act would undercut anything the GOP might attempt to do about imaginary voter fraud.


USA (none / 0) (#15)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Dec 30, 2020 at 07:01:04 AM EST

GOP Seeks to Roll Back Mail-In Voting
December 30, 2020 at 7:10 am EST By Taegan Goddard 43 Comments
"As President Trump continues to level baseless claims of voter fraud almost two months after his Nov. 3 election loss, Republican lawmakers in states Trump contested are pushing new voting restrictions for future elections," USA Today reports.
"That includes proposals to roll back laws in Georgia and Pennsylvania that allowed all registered voters to vote by mail - moves that civil rights and voting advocates say could suppress turnout."

Law Enforcement and Election Investigators (none / 0) (#17)
by KeysDan on Wed Dec 30, 2020 at 11:03:06 AM EST

reported their findings of the audit of Cobb County, Georgia stating flat out " No fraudulent absentee ballots were identified during the audit." The audit procedure and sample size provided a 99.9 percent confidence level.

The audit was conducted in Cobb County, a suburb of Atlanta, based on a complaint. Trump took note of the audit and Mark Meadows, WH Chief of Staff, along with Secret Service Agents, made a surprise visit to the site where the audit was underway.

As the signature audit results were released Tuesday evening, Trump complained about the process. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger plans to conduct statewide audits of each county's signature match policies. Georgia has already conducted three counts of all of the 5 million ballots cast--the first, and two re-counts (by hand and machine) demonstrating that Trump lost and Biden won each time (by about 12,000 votes).

While Raffensperger, the Republican Secretary of State, has made the case for the security of absentee ballots, he is also proposing restrictions on them in the future, asking the Georgia legislature to eliminate no-excuse absentee voting and requiring an ID to cast an absentee ballot. Yes, a Republican Commission on fraud would not be likely to make voting easier. They would never win again if they did.


: We are damned (5.00 / 1) (#18)
by CaptHowdy on Wed Dec 30, 2020 at 11:04:28 AM EST

A new NPR-Ipsos poll finds 40% of Americans believe the coronavirus was made in a lab in China even though there is no evidence for this.
And one-third of Americans believe that voter fraud helped Joe Biden win the 2020 election, despite the fact that courts, election officials and the Justice Department have found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have changed the outcome.
This one is particularly bonkers: The poll asked respondents whether they believe that "a group of Satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media" -- the false allegation at the heart of QAnon. While only 17% said it was true, another 37% said they didn't know.

The only (none / 0) (#20)
by Ga6thDem on Wed Dec 30, 2020 at 04:54:45 PM EST

reason everybody got to vote by mail here was the pandemic. Getting rid of Real ID in DC would do more to help people vote than any restriction the GOP could put on mail in voting. I worry though that the state will go back to putting one voting machine for 100,000 people which is way worse than restricting mail in voting. They really are slitting their own throats with the mail in voting restriction proposal because I am willing to bet in a non pandemic year the GOP gets a ton of votes from mail in ballots.


I don't think (none / 0) (#5)
by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 04:57:03 PM EST

there are 60 votes for 2K by itself.


: The idea (5.00 / 2) (#9)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 06:21:21 PM EST

Is to make them vote on it.

WaPo Says $2K is a Bad Idea (none / 0) (#10)
by RickyJim on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 06:40:07 PM EST

Yet a just-passed House bill would compound all of those errors by increasing the $600 payment to $2,000, at a total cost of $464 billion. It would phase out completely only for families of five earning above $350,000. Much of this is going to be saved, not spent, since restaurants are closed and air travel limited. The resources would be far better spent, in terms of both economic equity and economic growth, on longer extension of unemployment benefits, aid to state and local governments, and vaccines

: Typical opinion piece from (5.00 / 4) (#13)
by MO Blue on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 08:23:36 PM EST

someone who is not struggling to put food on their table or keep a roof over their head. That comment only addresses the actions of people who have more than enough money and even that is not totally accurate.
While I'm all for extending unemployment benefits and providing more money to the states, those monetary transactions will not meet the very immediate needs of the large number of people who are struggling to obtain necessary items needed to just survive. The additional cash could help pay some of the back rent that is due right now, pay overdue utilities, increase food allotments, medical and dental care and transportation. The list goes on and on and the money being provided is just a drop in the bucket. The money given to millions of people will immediately be put back into the economy unlike the free money provided to millionaires and billionaires.
Personally, I'm really sick of the "haves" opining on how it is poor policy to provide money and services to poor people.

: Truly pitiful response by US (5.00 / 5) (#14)
by MO Blue on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 08:58:32 PM EST

European Workers Draw Paychecks. American Workers Scrounge for Food.

... European countries -- among them Denmark, Ireland, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria -- have prevented joblessness by effectively nationalizing payrolls, heavily subsidizing wages and enabling paychecks to continue uninterrupted.

: that is an opinion piece (none / 0) (#12)
by Jeralyn on Tue Dec 29, 2020 at 07:34:47 PM EST

by the editorial board, not a news article.

Mitch McConnell blocked a bill? (none / 0) (#19)
by Donald from Hawaii on Wed Dec 30, 2020 at 12:20:30 PM EST

Wow. Who saw that one coming, eh?
;-)

22 more days.