Who is to Blame for Holding Up COVID Relief? Saturday Political Soap Box 264

Hopefully, for those who read this on Monday Dec 21 or later, something will have passed.  Probably an inadequate mess, but it will be something.

I've been very upset at many Americans' lack of decency about wearing a mask and social distancing.  Our lack of care has resulted in the United States being the epicenter of the pandemic.  We have roughly 4.25% of the world's population and 23% of the confirmed cases, and 19% of the world's deaths.  Trump and his administration have been massive failures in protecting us.

There is no excuse for not wearing a mask, but I understand why it is so difficult for people to stay apart.  We have to work.  We have to pay bills.  There is no relief in that regard.

Unemployment remains high, and individuals and states are running out of resources.  Much of that will expire soon.

Many of us have no choice but to keep working, even as the pandemic surges around us.

If we're going to make it the next few months, without tens if not hundreds of thousands of Americans dying, with millions falling ill and many of those suffering negative health effects that could last a lifetime, we need help.  Small businesses will go under, people will be evicted from their homes, unemployment will climb, medical bankruptcies will surge, workplaces will be unsafe.

So, we have to have COVID relief, and it needs to be directed to individuals, families, and small businesses.  It also needs to be directed at states and municipalities that are running out of funds and can't just print money. We need to shore up testing, contact tracing, and vaccine distribution.

We do not need to create a bigger slush fund for big corporations and the super-wealthy.  They are doing well enough, thank you very much.  We do not need liability protection for businesses from their responsibilities to protect workers and customers from COVID. What do you think will happen if large businesses, like meatpacking plants, feel like there is no consequence to ignoring COVID safety protocols?

Who is to blame for the lack of action on genuine COVID relief?

It's not Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats.  Say whatever you want about them, they passed a bill nine months, an outstanding comprehensive bill, and the Senate never took it up.

Trump wants to sign something. He is indeed a horrible negotiator, the very opposite of the dealmaker he played on television, but he'll sign whatever is passed.  He wants to send out checks with his name on them. So, he's not a help, but he wouldn't stop it either.

No, it's primarily one person.

It's Mitch McConnell.  

Yes, he has far-right Republican Senators whom he has to consider, but ultimately, it's him.  He's the hold-up.  He's why we can't feel safe enough to do the distancing that getting over this pandemic requires.

There is some possibility that a symbolic direct payment may be included in the COVD relief bill, maybe $600 a person.  That is only a possibility because McConnell fears what might happen in the Georgia Senate runoffs.  He thinks a tiny bone will placate restless independents in the state of Georgia and give the Loefller Android and Perdue Chicken the margin they need to beat their Democratic opposition.

Please note this.  If the two Republicans win, it will be the last concession to reality you will see. You will have at least two years of gridlock, and America's most pressing problems will be ignored.

The disease is Mitch McConnell.  The cure is Warnock and Ossoff.