Senate Republicans had no problem finding money for Wall Street and the wealthy, but Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said that there’s not enough money to help everyone else who is even more negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic has cratered the economy as the unemployment rate stands at 11 percent and could climb higher in the months ahead. Tens of millions of Americans are out of work and small businesses are struggling to survive along with the people they employ.
House Democrats have passed a package to rescue Americans financially with another round of stimulus.
But Alexander, who voted for Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy and the trillions of dollars that have already been doled out to Wall Street in the first stimulus package, told Meet The Press that there’s “not enough money” to help everyone else.
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“There’s not enough money to help everybody hurt when you shut down the government,” Alexander said. “We have to reopen the economy, we have to do it carefully, we have to let people go back to work and earn a living. And I don’t see us being able to appropriate much more money to help provide a counter to that.”
When pressed on helping small businesses, Alexander avoided any mention of financial aid and focused on testing and vaccines.
Here’s the video:
The idea that there’s enough money for war and to give to billionaires and corporations, but not enough for help ordinary Americans who are truly struggling and actually need financial relief right now is outrageous. So outrageous, in fact, that economics expert Stephanie Kelton called Alexander out.
The appropriations pen is out of ink?
I can’t believe we’re hearing, “We’re out of money” in the early stages of a crisis. AGAIN. The truth is, Congress can appropriate whatever it chooses. It literally cannot run out of money. https://t.co/P1RZ1wOMHR— Stephanie Kelton (@StephanieKelton) May 10, 2020
As did the Working Families Party:
They took care of their billionaire buddies and Wall Street bankers.
Now they’re trying to say there’s “not enough” left to help you and your family.
It’s a lie. https://t.co/XU2BIRCWSu
— Working Families Party 🐺 (@WorkingFamilies) May 10, 2020
Congress could approve a massive financial rescue of the American people today and it would work wonders for the economy and help people at the same time. But Republicans are greedy and only care about fleecing taxpayers to give money to wealthy people and corporations that don’t really need it. It tells us everything we need to know about the GOP. Only rich people matter in their eyes.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Office of Senator Lamar Alexander
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