House Democrats passed the “American Rescue Plan Act” Wednesday in a 220-211 vote. President Joe Biden will sign the bill — hailed by the far left as “how progressives have been begging their party to govern for more than a decade” — on Friday after addressing the nation Thursday night.
In a utopian world, the $2 trillion monstrosity somehow remedies income inequality, child poverty, puts food on the table, revamps urban transit, gets all teachers back in the classroom after a full year away, and keeps profligate governments above water. The latter effort totals $350 billion, despite state revenues staying almost the same in 2020.
“We could have had a bill that was a fraction of the cost that could have gotten bipartisan approval and support, but the speaker decided to go in another direction,” Rep. Liz Cheney claimed. “We are going to be saddled with a spending burden and tax burden that is really indefensible from the perspective of what it actually accomplishes. We know for sure that it includes provisions that are not targeted, they’re not temporary, and they’re not related to COVID.”
Republican senators, including Ted Cruz, Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio and Tim Scott, offered reasonable amendments Saturday that Democrats shot down. The GOP remains united in opposition to a partisan package where only 9% goes to defeating the virus.
“Asset inflation and direct payments solve short-term problems, but long-term, policies that promote inequality lead to greater social problems,” a financial guru told Alpha News. “Biden is using the bully pulpit to extort more from people who work hard to give to everyone else, while we waste billions, not only on handouts to those who don’t need them, but also on unnecessary programs. You think the states with surpluses and now untold billions more to prop up pensions and other wish-list items will suddenly give their citizens tax cuts? You cannot inflate your way out of debt, and you cannot print your way out of poverty.”
Shoveling money into the current economy also causes soaring debt and potential hyperinflation. Blue states are experiencing higher unemployment because of backwards policy decisions. It’s not coincidental that states with the highest unemployment have Democrat-run legislatures.
At a glance, the most egregious aspects of the bill some deem COVID-19 perpetuation more than relief include:
- An $86 billion taxpayer bailout for hundreds of failed union pension plans.
- $130 billion toward reopening schools. About $70 billion already has been tossed at schools during the pandemic, with only a fraction spent.
- Roughly $50 billion to expand Obamacare programs.
- An allocation of $400 billion to fund elective abortions.
Perhaps most importantly, the 100,000-word bill arrives in a different world than when Biden unveiled it from Delaware before his inauguration.
Two months ago, more than 250,000 new daily coronavirus cases were frequently reported, and 4,000 deaths per day regularly attributed to the virus.
Depending on the given day, now we have 50-60,000 new cases, and often fewer than 1,500 deaths, with fewer than 45,000 Americans hospitalized. Hospitalizations for seniors in particular are plummeting.
Almost 100 million Americans have now been vaccinated at least once, and more than 10% of people have received two shots. Here in Minnesota, vaccine access is rapidly expanding.
After losing 306,000 jobs in December, the U.S. economy added 379,000 jobs in February, beating expectations and pushing the unemployment rate down to 6%. The economy is growing faster than it has in 40 years.
The average American’s income reached a record high in 2020, and personal income is now 13 percent higher than a year ago and households have $1.6 trillion in excess savings.
The package, which gives some people $1,400 but costs every American $5,750 and makes cuts to Medicare, apparently also needed an extra $30 billion for grants from the Federal Transit Administration; $4.5 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program; $77 million for the Government Accountability Office; $50 million to the Consumer Product Safety Commission; $30 billion solely for indigenous communities; $50 billion for “environmental justice”; and an extra $13 million for the White House budget to defeat COVID.
Coronavirus is thankfully vanishing. Democrat politicians, top CDC personnel and media frantically promoted the boondoggle, while downplaying vaccine progress, as they cling to control.
A.J. Kaufman
A.J. Kaufman is an Alpha News columnist. His work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Florida Sun-Sentinel, Indianapolis Star, Israel National News, Orange County Register, St. Cloud Times, Star-Tribune, and across AIM Media Midwest and the Internet. Kaufman previously worked as a school teacher and military historian.
