House Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with reporters before voting to pass the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill on Feb. 26, 2021.
Brian Blase, who served as a special assistant to former President Trump (R-Texas) on the White House National Economic Council, criticized the latest $1.9 trillion relief bill passed by Congress on Sunday, March 7, arguing that the bill is immoral and will need to be repaid by future generations.
Blase was a leading architect of Trump’s health policy. He said the latest legislation is “brute force.” “It’s not about getting Americans out of the coronavirus (C.C. virus) Epidemic, it’s immoral for our youth and future generations of Americans in this country, because they’re going to have to pay for all of this.”
He spoke of the bill’s expansion of subsidies largely replacing private spending with government spending. The relief measure provides new health insurance subsidies for high-income families. He gave the example of a 60-year-old couple with two children who make $200,000 a year and would receive a $12,000 subsidy.
Bryce said, “In certain areas of the country where premiums are higher, families earning more than $500,000 would qualify for thousands of dollars in subsidies to purchase an Obamacare plan.” “In contrast, a Family of four with an annual income of just $40,000 would receive only $1,600 in additional benefits.” “Under the current plan, high-income families benefit more than low-income families.”
Bryce noted that if such subsidies were made permanent, the cost to the U.S. government over 10 years would “easily reach $500 billion. “The new subsidies would be much larger than the tax exemption for employer-sponsored coverage. I believe it would be foolish for most employers with fewer than 50 workers to offer coverage to their employees.” “They could raise wages and their workers would be eligible for large subsidies.”
For his part, Doug Badger, a U.S. health care expert and visiting scholar in domestic policy studies at the Heritage Foundation, said the Obamacare expansion has been quietly added to the latest Communist Party virus relief bill, and that it will primarily benefit wealthier families and insurers.
A former policy adviser to the White House, the Senate and the Department of Health and Human Services, Budge argues that much of the relief bill’s new spending on Obamacare plans will result in more subsidies for those who are already benefiting heavily. And most of the bill is not aimed at ending the Communist virus pandemic as soon as possible, or even directly related to it. He cited five transportation projects in the bill alone that would cost more than $175 million in total, for example.
The relief bill extends Obamacare subsidies for two years at a cost of $34 billion, Badger said. And the expanded subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2022, less than two months before the next congressional election.
He also talked about how the relief bill, which makes everyone who receives unemployment benefits eligible for free Obamacare, is encouraging people not to work. “Combined with the offer of an additional $400 a week in unemployment benefits, the prospect of free health insurance will cause many people, financially, to think that being unemployed is still better than working.” “In the long run, this increases the disincentive to the American Recovery Act. It will dampen the economic recovery and end up hurting unemployed workers by reducing their prospects for work and income.”
David Schein, professor and associate dean of graduate studies at the University of St. Thomas, said, “[The Democrats’] sneaky, bogus passage of a provision in the bogus New Coronavirus Stimulus Act to get $44 billion from hard-working taxpayers and $16 billion in subsidies is patently unconscionable,” and “it doesn’t sound consistent with Biden‘s ‘unity’ pledge.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Texas) tweeted on March 5: “After listening to the entire 11th hour of the bill it is clear this is not the new Coronavirus (COVID) relief bill …… How much is this going to cost from 2022 to 2028? This is just the Democrats’ wish list.”
Senate Democrats, with the support of Vice President Kamala Harris (D-N.Y.), broke a 50-50 tie and brought the bill up for debate on March 4. On March 6, the Senate drew a partisan line and passed a $1.9 trillion relief package. Republicans tried to add about three dozen amendments, but only three passed.
As Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (D-N.Y.) highlighted in a graphic posted on her Twitter account March 5, the previous five pandemic bailout plans had garnered nearly unanimous bipartisan support, but this Time things were very different. “We’re supposed to be moving forward together, not like this.”
Recent Comments