Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Monday had a slap fight on Twitter over the Democrat’s proposal to send $2,000 monthly payments to every American for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. The thing is with Republicans, though, is that it’s OK to gift the wealthy with tax cuts, and allow big corporations to gobble up forgivable small business loans. Still, it’s not OK to help struggling Americans through the crippling pandemic. And let’s face it, $2,000 per month isn’t a lot of money during the financial crisis.
Last May, Markey joined Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in introducing a bill meant to provide a $2,000 monthly payment to those making up to $100,000 per year during the COVID-19 pandemic, and immediately afterward.
Markey took to Twitter to promote the bill.
Give every person in our country $2000/month for the duration of the pandemic, $2000/month for 3 months after that, and $2000/month retroactive to March.
— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) August 10, 2020
But, Ted Cruz just had to be a dick about it. Cruz thinks he’s funny.
Why be so cheap? Give everyone $1 million a day, every day, forever. And three soy lattes a day. And a foot massage.
We have a magic money tree — we should use it! https://t.co/0ODgPBhc4O
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 10, 2020
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Markey let Cruz have it.
It’s not a goddamn joke Ted. Millions of families are facing hunger, the threat of eviction, and the loss of their health care during a pandemic that is worsening every day. Get real. https://t.co/z6ygY8lSxc
— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) August 10, 2020
Twitter users piled in.
We certainly have a magic money tree to fund the pentagon, military industrial complex and the police Ted has no opposition to
— Nathan (@nathanpf1) August 10, 2020
I have neither the time nor the energy right now to devise some dignified way to point out what an absolute piece of smug, useless shit you are, so let’s just go with this quick version.
— Benjamin Dreyer (@BCDreyer) August 10, 2020
Get his ass, Senator
— Aaron Huertas (@aaronhuertas) August 10, 2020
I lost my job on Friday. I’m devastated. I’m so tired of people buying into the lie that Republicans care about them.
— Kate Turner (@kateturnersays) August 10, 2020
Conservatives call everyone snowflakes but they have the most over-the-top dramatic reactions to any idea.
“SO YOU WANT TO ENSLAVE US ALL TO THE SOCIALIST DICTATORSHIP??????”
“No, I just said we should help homeless people ???”
— Josh Hinton (@joshhinton89) August 10, 2020
Ted Cruz voted to pass a $740,000,000,000 military budget two weeks ago. That’s $2 billion a day, every day. https://t.co/ZIT6Pt2unF
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) August 10, 2020
This is all a joke to Ted Cruz, who has no understanding what people in Texas are facing right now.
This level of contempt for the working class, for Texans losing everything — facing eviction, children and families lacking food — is a new low, even for him. https://t.co/oD40WVAKVZ
— Julie Oliver (@JulieOliverTX) August 10, 2020
Ted Cruz makes $175K per year and is worth $4M yet has an issue with Americans struggling through the pandemic receiving what would equate to $24k for a year. https://t.co/UapsniwXJ2
— Stephen Crociata (@SCrociata) August 10, 2020
Americans are dying. Thirty million Americans are at risk of facing eviction. The homeless rate is about to spike. Food banks are being hammered as citizens in this country struggle to put food on the table. Nearly one hundred and sixty-three thousand Americans have died from COVID-19, and over five million have contracted the disease – and that trout-mouthed Texas Republican is making a “soy” joke. And that “magic money tree” that Cruz mentioned was certainly plentiful when he came time to throw our tax dollars at the wealthy. Someone needs to tell Ted that billionaires need us, but we don’t need them.
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
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