Politico reports that Republicans have come up with a “compromise” COVID relief bill that slashes funding for schools. President Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion relief bill, that includes $170 billion for schools. Republicans have offered a COVID relief bill of $600 billion with a dramatic cut for schools, reducing the school aid to $20 billion. In the previous COVID relief (the CARES Act), charter schools, private schools, and religious schools received far more funding per-pupil than public schools. Republicans want public schools to reopen without the resources to reopen safely.
SENATE GOP PLAN WOULD SLASH BIDEN’S REQUEST FOR SCHOOL FUNDING: A group of 10 Republican senators is set to unveil the details today of a $600 billion counterproposal to Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief plan, and Biden plans to hear them out. White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced on Sunday evening that Biden had invited the group to the White House early this week. Her statement also touted the “substantial investment in fighting COIVD and reopening schools” in the administration’s original proposal.
— The GOP lawmakers, led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), requested the meeting to make the case for a bipartisan deal — even as Democratic congressional leaders prepare to move ahead this week on a budget resolution that would unlock a path to passing Biden’s plan along party lines through budget reconciliation.
— Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a member of the group, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the proposal would provide $20 billion “to get kids back to school,” which is a major decrease from the $170 billion for education in Biden’s relief plan.
— “We’ve already given schools 110 percent of what they usually receive from the federal government,” Cassidy said. “Parochial schools are open with a fraction of that money. Charter schools are open. The real problem is public schools. That issue is not money. That issue is teachers unions telling their teachers not to go to work. And putting $170 billion towards teachers unions’ priorities takes care of a Democratic constituency group, but it wastes our federal taxpayer dollars for something which is not the problem.”
rePUG-nicans again … but they seem to have endless supply of money for slashing people. I meant the word “SLASHING.”
“That issue is teachers unions telling their teachers not to go to work. And putting $170 billion towards teachers unions’ priorities takes care of a Democratic constituency group, but it wastes our federal taxpayer dollars for something which is not the problem.”
That says it all. All teachers are Democrats and all teachers in public schools join unions. Give me a break.
Teachers should have been included on the list of first to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
That’s expensive and just one more of the protective issues the unions are complaining about.
Senator Cassidy may not realize that many public schools are open during this pandemic. In some cases teachers have been given minimum PPE and are paying for many things out of their pocket to support this endeavor. KN95 masks can be $2 each. If a district has only provided teachers with a few cloth masks and the teacher want to be better protected…. well Senator Cassidy can do the math. Every student needs his or her own supplies? When supplies run out and teachers purchase replenishments…. it’s much more expensive in this context. I could go on and on…..
Public schools are also responsible for providing breakfast and lunch and counseling to in-person and remote students….for free this year.
Remote teachers are working and working hard.
Why there is so much ignorance around public schools by our senators…. just tiring. Ugh 😦
Someone please tell this man he has his facts all wrong. I’m a teacher in in charter school and we are not open. We won’t open until it is safe to do so! Schools are struggling and we continue to be the remembered last. Enough with the lies about unions. Even if that is the case so what! Someone has to have our interest in mind because clearly the government does not!!!
Thank you, Nadine.
UH OH! Those pesky teacher’s unions again! Do they ever get tired of the scapegoating?
Of course they want to slash school spending. Can’t have government sponsored improvement.
Looks like they’re just setting up Biden so that later they can say he’s not “reaching across the aisle” like he said he was going to. Also looks like he’s not going to fall for it like Obama did.
Watch Rachel Maddow tonight. She just explained how Republicans pushed Obama to reduce his stimulus package to get their cooperation.
Biden will stick to his guns. Elections have consequences.
Money that goes to people who need it most will be spent and stimulate the economy quickly.
Diane Yes on Rachel, again. And Biden was there to see it. We can hope “once burned . . . .” CBK
if Biden spends months and months being sidelined, I think we will all slowly go nuts
ciedie Are we watching Biden cave, as we speak? Let’s hear Bernie? CBK
Biden knows he must move fast because he could lose the Senate or House or both in 2022.
He’s just Biden his time, like he normally does.
The Republicans can’t be trusted right now, especially since they can’t even trust their own caucus. Very few of them have shown any backbone, and most of them have done little to deserve anyone “reaching across the aisle.” What’s that old saying about actions speaking louder than words? Well. their actions have spoken loudly. You would have to be a fool to trust them right now. Let them get their own house in order first.
Perhaps there is some way that aid can be directed only to those states whose legislators overwhelmingly voted for it. Apparently, they don’t want the money. How about we reduce the amount high tax states pay and reduce the amount low tax states receive? Then the states who actually want services for their people can spend more of their own money to provide them. That should fit with the Republican push to get the federal government out of state concerns.
More like a micriscopic virus delivered in a Giant Orange Package
Giant Orangutan Package also works
Hate to tell these idiot Senators, but many of us are already open and have been for months. I have to buy my own supplies, so the kids don’t share, my own cleaning supplies, and my own PPE. My school building is so old that currently the heat is broken in part of the building, and the bells and intercom are all broken. There is no ventilation. About half the classrooms don’t even have windows.
At least you have doors.
When I was teaching the only way to get in and out of classrooms was through a hole in the roof.
Of course, all adults in schools who got sick or died caught COVID from outside of the school environment…not possibly inside where teachers are in a closed room with no ventilation and 30+ kids.
Children are not tested as regularly as adults, so what is the REAL number of kids who were either asymptomatic or carrying COVID?
…………………………………..
Jan 13, 2021, 9:48am EST
Updated on:Jan 13, 2021, 9:48am EST
Nearly 2.3 million children in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a new report
The American Academy of Pediatrics says that is as of Jan. 7. About 171,000 new cases were identified in kids last week alone.
The report includes children from newborn to 19 years old.
It may be a large number, but looking at more than 22 million cases overall, data shows kids are still less likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 and die from it.
Health experts say they still want more data on how the virus might affect kids over time.
I really get tired with the “parochial schools half the money” bs. Yes, parochial schools and the local yeshiva are open (when not closed for positive cases). But they are staffed with public nurses, ride publicly funded buses, and use publicly funded special ed funds. When will they be called out for that lie?
Preach, sistah!
The headline of this post is so misleading. Everyone does it, and it stops dialogue and leads to insults against people who have a different opinion. We are never going to convince the other side by making false statements like this. A reduction in a proposed increase is not a cut. it is an increase. To say otherwise is insulting to literate people who pay attention.
Even following baseline budgeting, Starting out with $100 and giving you $10 is an increase even if someone else wants to give you $25.
The country is in the middle of a crisis. Relief is needed. That is what the government is for and why we pay our taxes (most of us not the Bezos billionaires). Biden has the experience to know that a bold package is needed right now.
There is a bill on the table. The republicans want to cut provisions in the bill for schools.
There is nothing misleading about this headline.
I disagree. Biden proposes to spend $160 billion to help schools reopen. Republicans say the federal government should spend only $20 billion to help schools reopen. If schools don’t reopen, the economy won’t reopen.
I call a change from $160 billion to $20 billion a “cut or a “reduction” or a “slash” I proposed funding. What do you call it?
I completely agree schools need a lot more than $20 billion. But it is still an increase. If you are hungry and I give you $20.00 to buy a meal, are you going to get mad and say it’s not enough because you want $100.00?
” If you are hungry and I give you $20.00 to buy a meal, are you going to get mad and say it’s not enough because you want $100.00?”
Yeah, if you have spent the last decade gentrifying my neighborhood and driving me out into an under resourced area where the corner bodega is the only source of food. I might actually be able to afford a trip to a real supermarket even though I can’t carry too much on the bus. I happened to be at a local food pantry when a patron was leaving with her unwieldy bags to catch more than one bus and then walk a few blocks to get home. A friend and I drove her home and helped her carry her supplies in. What would have been an hour trip for her if the buses came right when she needed them, took us less than half an hour both ways. So, yeah, if you gave me $20, I would take it graciously and thankfully (given the Paul Piff Ted talk I just watched), but the size of your donation says more about you than the recipient’s needs. Then, of course, we are talking about what the federal government needs to be doing to prevent not only some of the effects of crushing poverty right now during this pandemic, but to sustain people long enough to get them back to work at a minimum, so the parallels are not exact.
Michael Here’s the problem . . . you are talking abstractly . . . and as an abstract mathematical problem, you may even be right. However, see my other note to Diane and you . . . The problem we are talking about is concrete and historical . . . not abstract, and it doesn’t change form midway as your example does. So again, the baseline begins in the political ground of responsible government action, and so the dollar amount that follows from there . . . to match the need as best we can.
As an aside, when I went for a business loan eons ago, they wanted to know in writing a reasonable prospectus . . . how long and how much I thought it would take to get the business off the ground. It wasn’t arbitrary.
Even in a family, or in a business setting, it doesn’t work as you have said . . . and even in your example, the initial amount was based in an amount of $$ for a meal, and not in just “wanting” $100. Sorry . . . it’s not only a false analogy, it doesn’t work within it’s own perimeters. CBK
I defend my original usage. Please suggest a different heading for the post.
diane I agree with you, and cannot help but think Michael is just playing the same word game that he is accusing others of playing.
Michael: The baseline is not NOTHING. The baseline in this case is the extant/REAL NEED, and only then the different amounts come into play . . . the original $2000 . . . or as others have said here: MORE than that. LESS than that is, indeed, a CUT . . . in both their willingness to fulfill their responsibility for the real need, as well as the amount it will take to fill it. CBK
We are starting from 160 billion – from the actual proposed bill. The republicans are asking to cut the proposed spending to schools. The headline is about cutting funding from the proposed bill.
This isn’t about one person being generous to another. This is about a shared pool of money and a proposed bill, a bill that is being requested to be cut.
I am unsure how I am playing a word game. This has nothing to do with need or want. It is simple economics. I am not saying the need does not exist, clearly there is need, but there is need everywhere and only so much money to spread around.
Taking the baseline as what has already been approved, anything above that is an increase. you can disagree on how much that increase should be, but the only time there is a reduction/ cut/ slash or whatever term you want to use, is when you take from that baseline. Both sides are proposing an increase. No side is proposing a cut. Government rarely cuts spending anytime.
Perhaps I am mistaken, but reversing this argument, it seems that some here are saying that if I have $100 and 2 robbers approach me. One demands that I hand over all $100 and the other says hand over $50, the robber taking $50 is cutting how much money the other robber gets.
Or to look at it yet another way, the robber only taking $50 is increasing how much money I have left to spend. Now that sounds like government at work.
Michael “Simple economics.” I love abstractions, but they still need to be worked into the concrete problems. There is no conflict if you understand the difference between abstract economics and the applications of any generality where the details matter . . . being robbed or needing a meal requires different applications from, say, an entire nation’s economy that is suffering from the effects of a pandemic. It’s like architecture . . . a lovely set of sciences feed into the actual building. . . and so, still, the actual lay of the land, e.g., ground, weather, surroundings, . . . MUST be known for the building to hold up well.
But in the longer run, it’s not your fault . . . if we cannot think our way out of the present dismal state of economic theory, nothing serious can be done. CBK
Schools are being greedy saying “we want more” – as in your analogy.
This is a bill about what is needed to open and provide a public service.
Schools are not robbers shaking down the government. They are providing a key public service that requires substantial funding.
“aren’t being greedy”
Excuse me CBK, what are you implying? the “dismal state of economic theory?” It’s one thing for politicians to claim a proposed reduction to an proposed increase in spending is a cut in spending. It is entirely something else for an economist to do so. You can argue economic theory all day. It is simply not a cut in spending.
When the democrats proposed reducing spending on Trumps wall, that was a cut/ reduction. Had a bill been proposed and debated that offered $100 billion in new spending and the democrats offered only #50 billion in new spending, that is not a cut in spending. It is a $50 billion increase. The same logic applies here.
we can disagree on the need and the value of that need, but that is not what I am saying. That is an entirely different debate. My point is that it doesn’t matter if it is education, tanks, or widgets, Proposing to spend $100 more then you planned to spend is an increase, even if someone else wants to spend $200.00 more. $200 may be the smartest choice, but that is a policy argument.
Michael Hmmm . . . You write that it’s a policy argument. That’s exactly the point that matters here. Economics is applied in large arenas through policy. Did you miss my point about science being one thing, and its applications in specific historical circumstances with real people, being another? It’s the same with logic . . . you can relate “ifs-thens” about blue unicorns with it, but logic cannot tell you if there are such things as blue unicorns.
In this way, economic theory IS one thing, while it’s applications IN THIS CASE as well as its relationship with its underpinning of political philosophy, is quite another. One doesn’t need to criticize economic theory to understand the principles of application of theory in concrete historical circumstances.
On the other hand, in my view, economic theory is ALSO in a dire state. But as you say, that’s for another discussion. CBK
And this argument is important why? The Republicans have proposed that Biden’s proposal be cut by about 2/3. Does that make you happy? It probably just depends on which side of a policy argument you are on as to how you want to frame an argument.
Exactly.
I have a friend who told me that Reagan was one of the best presidents ever. I said FDR was one of the best. She looked strangely at me.
People who watch Fox don’t know how backward their thinking is. Now we can add Breitbart, OAN, Newsmax and the huge proliferation of far R online media such as Breaking “Christian” News, Patriotic Times, The American Digest and RenewedRight.com.
……………………………….
Thom Hartmann wrote: “If America is to survive as a functioning democratic republic, we must repudiate the “greed is good” ideology of Ayn Rand and libertarianism, get billionaires and their money out of politics, and rebuild our civil institutions.
That starts with waking Americans up to the incredible damage that 40 years of Rand’s writings and libertarian Reaganism have done to this country.
It will succeed if progressive activists can push President Biden to reclaim the mantle of FDR and pull America out of the Second Republican Great Depression.”
Mike Wallace interviews Ayn Rand (1959) (full interview)
Nov 17, 2012
carolmalaysia Like hating government but “don’t take away my Social Security,” in fact, your friend and the rest of us the United States and elsewhere, presently still live and breath FDR. CBK
Michael,
The needed has changed.
There are new needs that are being proposed to be funded. It new funding – to address the needs of a pandemic. Without this funding schools will not be able to properly open. The figure was not pulled out of thin air.
This isn’t a random increase in funding. It’s proposed funding for what it will take to open schools given the new paradigm of covid.
If the Republicans cut the proposed funding…. then we will not have the funding necessary to safely open schools.
Twist it around however you please……
Republicans are “proposing to slash funding for schools in the covid bill.”
The headline is accurate and correct.
Please disregard errors…. typing fast. “need has changed”…. “It’s new.”
If George Bush proposed a bill to better equip military personnel with gear to keep them safe overseas because of a new threat. Let’s say he put forth a bill for $50 million to make sure troops were safer overseas – given this new threat. The bill was well thought out and ready to be passed. Then a group of democrats, said “no, let’s cut it to $5 million.”
It would be correct to say that democrats “want to slash funding in the military gear bill.”
This is very much a random increase in funding. That doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary or appropriate. At the same time, schools in some states and in many countries have bene open for months without the dreadful predictions of lets say the Chicago Teachers’ Union. Debating how much new monies should be spent is legitimate, but any new monies are in fact new monies.
What’s random about it?
beachteach I think “random” is statistics-talk for “*intelligible concrete circumstances” that include individual human beings making policy decisions that influence many other individual human beings. CBK
I am not trying to be argumentative…. our experiences and fundamental understandings are just different.
Are your books based on your experience teaching or working in public schools?
I’m not sure if you are addressing me or someone else.
What are we disagreeing about?
Oops.. I replied in the wrong place.
That was to be addressed to Michael. We have been going back and forth and replied that he wrote books on the topic:
I was replying to this post: “As far as looking at large urban districts and small suburban districts, they are very different. I’ve written a lot on this. but both districts will have their hand out, and both will get money, even if some do not think they both need it”
Michael still has not offered a substitute headline that explains why Republicans wanted to slash Biden’s offer for schools from $160 billion to $20 billion.
Waiting.
when did I say I wrote books on it? That’s petty. I said I’ve written on it, and I have. Your comments are exactly why nothing ever changes in the government.
Michael: Sorry. I shouldn’t have used the word “books” it was petty of me and, you are right, it is the reason for that nothing ever gets done.
Alternate title
“Republicans want to slash and burn the country”
Thanks for the accurate title.
Some of this discussion seems very confused. Nothing here has anything to do with economics or economic theory. Biden’s proposal was not “cut” or “slashed”, it is still $160 billion. The Republicans have made a different proposal that is much lower. Biden’s proposal could still win the day.
I think that in the end we will get spending somewhere , but it will likely be somewhere between $160 billion and $20 billion dollars. Biden set a ceiling, the Republicans a floor.
Do you have a new headline?
I do.
The Biden administration proposes $160 billion payment to schools across the country. The Republicans propose $20 billion.
Do you think that inaccurate?
It is not a headline. Why don’t you write your own blog and let me write mine without constant carping?
No doubt Rush Limbaugh, Rachel Maddow, and many others would agree with you that my suggestion is not a headline. Rather than inciting people to action, it simply attempts to present the truth of the matter.
In any case, my post was simply to point out that this discussion here has absolutely nothing to do what economics and economic theory. I hope that we can all agree that Michael and Catherine King are both badly mistaken about that.
Any reader with a 12th grade education could understand exactly the meaning of th eer article: Biden wants $160 billion to help schools reopen, the “moderate” Republicans offer only $20 billion. You are not adding anything of value to the discussion.
Diane Reflecting on the last several years of McConnell’s Republican Congress, they didn’t get the label “The Party of NO” for nothing, or McConnell: “the grim reaper.” “Slashing” pretty much covers it–on principle . . Republicans ignore, belittle, or SLASH whatever Democrats put forth. If McConnell isn’t totally responsible for the present conflict we find ourselves in, he has a big share in it.
In less conflictive times, a more innocuous headline might read: Republicans Propose Less for Schools than Democrats in Relief Bill. I think the point is that, in less conflictive times, using terms like “slash” might seem like hyperbole. But in OUR time, and with the egregious history of Republican degeneracy, SLASH fits their history . . . works for me. CBK
A proposal to cut an offer of $160 billion to only $20 billion strikes me as “slash and burn.”
It means that the Republicans don’t give a damn about teachers or students.
Diane Yes, indeed. “A proposal to cut an offer of $160 billion to only $20 billion strikes me as ‘slash and burn’ . . . . It means that the Republicans don’t give a damn about teachers or students.”
Yes, indeed. I think, considering their history, it’s also a way to slow things down . . . politically. I think, at this point, anyone would be stupid to expect any genuine efforts on their part. CBK
Teachingeconomist “In any case, my post was simply to point out that this discussion here has absolutely nothing to do what economics and economic theory. I hope that we can all agree that Michael and Catherine King are both badly mistaken about that.”
I don’t know what discussion you are talking about, but in mine, I referred to the initial post about reduction as a word game . . . from there I tried to explain WHY I thought it was a word game. Also, at least twice, I pointed out the difference between economic theory and its flow into concrete applications through government policy.
Maybe you were reading a different thread in a different blog. But the question of the present state of economic theory is, again, a question for another discussion. I wouldn’t close my mind on that if I were you. I think that, from a philosophical viewpoint, those involved in it would do well to inspect their own philosophical foundations and views before developing or applying theories that end up influencing little things, like world economics. CBK
FYI: I don’t know if THIS note will go into moderation, but I wrote two this Thursday morning, and one went to moderation. . . . whatever. CBK
Bbringing it back to the military relief bill analogy above……. I could say, “troops in American Samoa are getting along just fine without this random increase in funding for military gear…… what’s wrong with these whiney troops in Afghanistan.
You are comparing apples to oranges if you compare school districts throughout our country. Large urban school districts are different than say wealthy suburban districts.
I’m not sure the troops in American Samoa would agree with you if you asked them. As far as looking at large urban districts and small suburban districts, they are very different. I’ve written a lot on this. but both districts will have their hand out, and both will get money, even if some do not think they both need it.
You’re mincing words. This is a negotiation, not a budget, and everybody knows it. Since when is $20billion a good-faith counteroffer to $170billion?
Since pigs had wings.
The Democrats need to learn a new negotiating technique; ask for more.
D: $1400 check
R: $1000 check
D: $1600 check
R: $1000 check
D: $1800 Check
R: $1200 check
D: $2000 check
R: $1400 check
D: split the difference…make it $1700 or we can continue to negotiations
The GOP has strong armed policy for 4 years, now the shoe is on the other foot.
It is good for the economy to give subsidies to people who need them most because they spend it all for necessities, which helps the economy. When the 1% get a tax cut, they add it to their portfolio.
Drext727 Biden apparently can either serve the American people or serve his ideal of unity with Senate Republicans (?); but he cannot do both under the present circumstances, especially where “emergency” is fast losing its meaning. CBK
True.
Currently snowed in…. watching CSPAN.
It’s hard to hear the Covid-19 Relief bill as an excuse for R senators (specifically referring to Senator Barrasso from Wyoming) to bash teacher’s unions with a blanket call for schools to open…. as if he is unable to understand that context matters.
My financial advisor gave another virtual presentation a few days ago. He said that he was against the $15 an hour minimum wage because he couldn’t see a teenager working at a hamburger place earning $30,000 a year. He mentioned about how high the cost of the burger would get. [Astronomical, I guess].
I sent him this article from the NYT four days ago and didn’t get a response back. SO, I sent it again this morning at his other email address.
You may remember that he was against the graduated income tax which would tax the wealthier at a higher rate and would be at least be partially used to fund pensions for the state. Illinois pensions are only 40% funded at the current time. The progressive tax increase did not pass.
…………………………………..
McDonald’s workers in Denmark get $22 an hour, six weeks of paid vacation a year, life insurance, a year’s paid maternity leave and a pension plan.
Starting pay for the humblest burger-flipper at McDonald’s in Denmark is about $22 an hour once various pay supplements are included. The McDonald’s workers in Denmark get six weeks of paid vacation a year, life insurance, a year’s paid maternity leave and a pension plan. And like all Danes, they enjoy universal medical insurance and paid sick leave.
One reason Denmark was more effective than the United States in responding to the crisis is that no Dane hesitated to seek treatment because of concerns about medical bills.
Workers get their schedules a month in advance, and they can’t be assigned back-to-back shifts.
Danes pay an extra 19 cents of every dollar in taxes, compared with Americans, but for that they get free health care, free education from kindergarten through college, subsidized high-quality preschool, a very strong social safety net and very low levels of poverty, homelessness, crime and inequality. On average, Danes live two years longer than Americans.
A Big Mac flipped by $22-an-hour workers isn’t even that much more expensive than an American one. Big Mac prices vary by outlet, but my spot pricing suggested that one might cost about 27 cents more on average in Denmark than in the United States. That 27 cents is the price of dignity…
The minimum wage in Indiana is $7.25 an hour.
Then there is the fact that what used to be a job for a teenager is now feeding families. If a teenager was lucky enough to get a job, it would be part-time any way.
IBT:
After giving 10 GOP senators a chance to make their case for a reduced coronavirus relief package, President Joe Biden opted against a bipartisan bill in favor of his American Rescue Plan.
Biden told Democrats to proceed with their efforts to approve the funding via budget reconciliation, which requires only a majority in the Senate instead of the 60 votes needed to pass the bill. That would mean $1,400 stimulus checks instead of the GOP’s $1,000.
Biden’s bold move comes despite holding narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress. The $1.9 trillion price tag (the Republicans’ plan called for $600 billion) doesn’t guarantee passage even within his own party, especially in the Senate, but he seems determined.
“The president’s commitment is to urgently deliver relief to the American people,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki, “and that’s what he’s conveyed in every meeting he’s had or engagement he’s had with Democrats and Republicans.”
I’m glad Biden is pushing for his proposal, but I do wonder why people making $300,000 need a stimulus check. I don’t know enough about the whole proposal but that is one area I would have cut. It sounds like a giveaway to the wealthier Democratic donor class.
370 Congressional Aides Urge Senate to Bar Trump From Holding Office Ever Again
“The use of violence and lies to overturn an election is not worthy of debate,” staffers wrote in their open letter.
February 3, 2021
Hundreds of congressional staffers have signed an open letter to the Senate imploring all the U.S. senators to vote to convict former President Donald Trump and bar him from ever holding office again.
Trump’s impeachment trial is set to begin in the Senate on February 9.
In the staffers’ letter, which was published online Wednesday morning, more than 370 congressional aides, including schedulers, staff members, advisers and press secretaries, as well as chiefs of staff and committee staff directors, described how they had to hide under desks, barricade themselves inside their offices, and watch as a mob of Trump loyalists, egged on and incited by Trump to go to the Capitol building that day, attempted to undermine the process of certifying Electoral College votes on January 6.
“The former President broke America’s 230-year legacy of the peaceful transition of power when he incited a mob to disrupt the counting of electoral college votes,” the staffers said in the letter.
Noting that six individuals have died as a result of the Trump loyalists’ attacks on their building, the staffers also noted how a Capitol Police officer, whom they described as “one of our co-workers who guards and greets us every day,” was beaten to death by the mob.
The writers of the letter did not mince words in placing the blame for the attacks on Trump.
“The attack on our workplace was inspired by lies told by the former president and others about the results of the election in a baseless, months-long effort to reject votes lawfully cast by the American people,” the letter stated…
https://truthout.org/articles/370-congressional-aides-urge-senate-to-bar-trump-from-holding-office-ever-again/?utm_source=Truthout&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Truthout+Share+Buttons
1,500 more people are being found to have died from COVID in Indiana after having looked at their death certificates.
Starting Monday students and teachers will no longer have to quarantine if they have remained at least 3 feet apart and work masks at all times in a classroom.
……………………..
1,507 deaths added to state total
Found in audit of death certificates during pandemic
NIKI KELLY | The Journal Gazette
INDIANAPOLIS – State health officials announced Wednesday they are adding about 1,500 COVID-19 deaths to the tally after an audit of all death certificates during the pandemic.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said 1,205 deaths were added to 2020 and 302 to 2021. That brings the state’s total death toll to 11,220…
Box also announced some significant changes in quarantine rules for schools that could limit disruption.
She said data from Indiana and across the U.S. show it is rare for student infections to occur in the classroom when all parties are masked. And requiring all close contacts to quarantine has placed on ongoing burden on schools, students and families.
One school district in southern Indiana reported that nearly 98% of those quarantined due to being an in-classroom close contact never became ill.
So, starting Monday, students and teachers will no longer have to quarantine if they have remained at least 3 feet apart and wore masks at all times in a classroom. This does not apply to lunch rooms, athletics, band, choir or any other school setting where masks are removed.
Box said the safest quarantine is still 14 days, but the state is allowing other options according to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If a student or teacher must quarantine, they can return after 10 days if they don’t develop symptoms. And they can return after seven days if they get a negative swab test.
The state is also sending 1 million KN95 masks to schools, which is enough for 10 masks for each teacher, administrator and staff. About 60,000 masks for children also will be sent and hand sanitizer.
Rapid test kits will be provided to schools also to quickly test symptomatic kids and teachers for isolation.
Gov. Eric Holcomb also announced the state will air a commercial at 6:30 p.m. Sunday during the Super Bowl on the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. It is about a high school athletic director who died from the virus and his son is featured in the ad, which will air statewide.
It is costing about $123,000 to air and Holcomb said it is worth every penny for more Hoosiers to hear the compelling story…
https://journalgazette.net/news/local/20210204/1507-deaths-added-to-state-total
Every schoolchild knows English Grammar is not always associative.
In the instance at hand —
Republicans Want to Slash (Funding for Schools in COVID Relief Bill)
≠
(Republicans Want to Slash Funding for Schools) in COVID Relief Bill
Anyone who hasn’t been asleep this week knows the first interpretation is true.
Only a deliberately perverse interpreter would insist on the second reading.
Thanks, Jon.
This debate is about a perverse and intentional misconstruction of the post.
Bernie is the best!!
…………………………………………………..
In the next several months, with your help, we have the opportunity to make enormous progress in addressing the unprecedented set of crises facing working people in our country. And, as the new Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, I intend to be very active in that struggle.
Through a Senate process called “reconciliation” we can pass two major pieces of legislation which will appropriate trillions of dollars. The first bill will address the short-term emergency problems facing the working class of this country because of the pandemic. The second bill will deal with the long-term structural problems we face.
Given the reality that Democrats have only a one-vote margin in the Senate, the tie-breaking vote of the Vice President, passing these pieces of legislation will not be easy. So in this letter, I want to explain to you what reconciliation is, what is possible through this process, and then ask you to take action to make your voice heard as this debate begins.
The truth is, we are at a moment in time where this country is facing more simultaneous crises than at any point in modern history. We have a global pandemic which has claimed the lives of more than 450,000 people. We have an economic crisis that has left millions unemployed, with many facing hunger and eviction. Meanwhile, more than 90 million of our people are uninsured or underinsured. Systemic racism is eating away at the fabric of our society, comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue, and on top of all of that, climate change threatens to make our planet uninhabitable for future generations.
So given all that we face, now is not the time to think small. This is the time to think big. Very big.
Reconciliation gives us that opportunity. And as the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, we have a critical role in this process.
So what is reconciliation?
Reconciliation is a process that allows legislation to pass with a simple majority in the Senate and is not subject to a filibuster. Normally, Congress only gets one chance to pass a reconciliation bill each year, but because Congress did not pass a budget in 2020, that means we get two reconciliation bills this year.
The first reconciliation bill will deal with COVID relief. This week, I introduced a $1.9 trillion Budget Resolution allowing the Senate to provide critical relief to working people. After Tuesday’s vote to proceed with the resolution, members of the Senate will debate what’s in the resolution before voting on final passage.
And what this legislation would do is provide $1,400 in direct payments for every working person and their children. The $600 direct payment passed in December was not enough. We need to boost it to $2,000 for every working class adult and their kids. This legislation will also extend unemployment benefits with a $300 supplement for those out of work through September of this year. It will provide much needed aid for state and local governments struggling with massive budget shortfalls. It will greatly expand the Child Tax credit to substantially reduce child poverty. It will provide health care support for those struggling to afford care or who have lost their jobs. It will increase funding for nutrition programs for those struggling with food insecurity. It includes funding for homeless assistance and to help more than 16 million K-12 students who live in households without the internet, and it will provide funding to get kids back in the classroom. It will expand COVID testing, and it will help us get the vaccine in more arms which we need to help our country return to “normal.” And it will take the long overdue step of raising the minimum wage to a living wage of $15 an hour.
All good stuff. All critical.
Now, you have probably heard a number of Republicans moaning and groaning that Democrats are threatening to go at this alone without bipartisan support.
Many of them have very short memories.
Let us not forget that Republicans passed a $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthiest people in this country via reconciliation, and they did it without a single Democratic vote. They also tried to take away health care from millions of people in this country via reconciliation without a single Democratic vote, as well.
We are going to use reconciliation in a different way — one that helps the American people.
So, of course I want to work with Republicans in this process, and I would hope a number of them come along and recognize the incredible pain millions of families are experiencing. But we are not going to wait around for months and months to go from 51 votes to 53 votes, especially when so many people need help so desperately and they need it right now.
But we cannot stop there.
In the second reconciliation bill we must deal with the structural changes our country desperately needs by passing a number of programs that enjoy the overwhelming support of the American people.
We must end the international embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave to workers.
We must create millions of good-paying jobs by rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, constructing affordable housing and modernizing our schools.
We must lead the world in combating the existential threat of climate change by making massive investments in wind, solar, geothermal, electric vehicles, weatherization and energy storage.
We must make public colleges, universities, trade schools and HBCUs tuition-free and forcefully address the outrageous levels of student debt for working families in this country.
We have got to be bold in terms of jobs, health care, nutrition, education, racial justice, immigration, criminal justice reform, housing, climate change, and many other important issues. We must continue our collective struggle to create a government that works for all of us, not just the 1%.
Will this be easy?
Like I said, of course it will not be easy.
This is a process that will require massive amounts of public education and activism to get the job done.
And my intention is to mobilize the people that powered our presidential campaign in order to get it done. We are going to use the tools we deployed for voter contact to help win an election and put them to work educating and mobilizing our friends and our neighbors. But I cannot do that alone:
Can you make a contribution to help us build the kind of organizing effort we’ll need to convince my colleagues in the Senate to pass reconciliation bills that will forcefully address the needs of our people during this unique moment in American history?
The hard truth is it’s not just Republicans who stand in our way. There may be some Democrats who oppose these basic human needs, even widely popular legislation to raise the minimum wage. But if we all make our voices heard, I think we can get a lot done over the course of the next few months.
We can transform this country.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
Good for Bernie!
The Trump effect…”Don’t wear a mask. It’s better to get sick and die than to lose your “freedom.”
…………………….
Friday, February 05, 2021 1:00 am
Coronavirus roundup
COVID-19 death toll in US passes 450,000
Associated Press
Coronavirus deaths in the United States surpassed 450,000 on Thursday, and daily deaths remain stubbornly high at more than 3,000 a day, despite falling infections and the arrival of multiple vaccines.
Infectious disease specialists expect deaths to start dropping soon, after new cases hit a peak right around the beginning of the year. New COVID-19 deaths could ebb as early as next week, said the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But there’s also the risk that improving trends in infections and hospitalizations could be offset by people relaxing and coming together – including this Sunday, to watch football, she added.
“I’m worried about Super Bowl Sunday, quite honestly,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday.
The effect on deaths is delayed. The daily toll amounts to 50,000 new fatalities in the last two weeks alone.
The nation reported 3,912 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday, down from the pandemic peak of 4,466 deaths on Jan. 12…
Evers issues mask decree after vote
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued a new statewide mask order on Thursday, an hour after the Republican-controlled Legislature voted to repeal his previous mandate saying he didn’t have authority to make such a decree.
Evers and the Legislature have been at odds throughout the pandemic but the latest moves created an unprecedented level of whiplash.
As the Legislature moved to repeal the order, many cities and counties rushed to enact or extend local mask ordinances. Milwaukee and Dane County, where Madison is located, are among those with orders in place…
https://journalgazette.net/news/20210205/covid-19-death-toll-in-us-passes-450000
Anti-maskers are not making decisions just for themselves. Their refusal to wear a mask affects everyone they come into contact with. It’s called public health.
The Senate passed a stimulus budget bill. It now goes to the House who have passed their version.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) advanced an amendment to bar funding from schools that have not reopened once teachers have been vaccinated. It failed on a party-line vote.
This is off topic but something that is important. Trump would use information for his personal gain and cannot be trusted. Biden is correct in stating that he is an ‘existential threat, dangerous and reckless.”
……………………………….
5:43 p.m.
Biden says Trump should not receive intelligence briefings because of his ‘erratic behavior’
By Amy B Wang
Biden does not think Donald Trump should continue to receive intelligence briefings because of his “erratic behavior,” according to the president’s interview on CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell.
His remarks were a step further than the stance he and other officials in his administration had previously taken on the issue, when they said they would seek guidance from intelligence professionals.
In a portion of the interview that aired Friday night, Biden cites Trump’s “erratic behavior unrelated to the insurrection” — a reference to when a pro-Trump mob overran the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — as the reason he think Trump should not continue receiving intelligence briefings, as is typical after a president leaves office.
O’Donnell also pressed Biden on his past remarks when he called Trump an existential threat, dangerous and reckless. Biden acknowledged that he said those things and said he still believed them.
Biden demurred, however, when O’Donnell asked what his worst fear was, should Trump continue to get the briefings.
“I’d rather not speculate out loud. I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden told O’Donnell. “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”
Former White House officials and political analysts have expressed fear that Trump could divulge classified information, either unintentionally or for personal gain.
Just before the inauguration, now-White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain did not rule out withholding intelligence briefings from Trump, saying then that the administration would “look for a recommendation from the intelligence professionals in the Biden-Harris administration.”
The conversation with O’Donnell was Biden’s first network interview since he took office.
I live in Fla land where they operate schools in a pandemic.are used to think that behaviour was not going to be an issue.it’s less so but more so in a lot of ways because when kids stand on desks they still don’t do anything