Anybody know what the deal with this Jared Golden guy is, the one D who voted against Covid relief? This gonna be the next Van Drew? Gjge voting against something that has 90% approval among your voters. Moron.
Spoiler: He likes Trump.
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Seems weird.
Trump won his district by 7.5 points, but Golden won his own race by 6.
And Golden is (or at least was) a Medicare For All cosponsor.
Dunno what his deal is.
My perception is that his executive orders on immigration tend to be on the level of ordering pauses or reviews, things that are temporary and defer to Congress to make long-lasting immigration policy.
With the aforementioned issue with diversity visas, I think he means to address that with his proposal to increase the cap for diversity visas that can be issued each year by 45%. He probably expects Congress to use some of those extra slots to make things right for people who were harmed by Trump’s Muslim ban.
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He is opposed to the removal of the minimum wage increase and wants greater means-testing for stimulus checks, while believing that fixing infrastructure and the healthcare system should be bigger priorities than much of the spending contained in the bill.
“I will vote against the coronavirus relief legislation passed by the Senate over the weekend.
While the Senate made modest changes to the legislation, some of those changes undermined parts of the bill I do support, and others were insufficient to address my concerns with the overall size and scope of the bill. Although I support the Senate’s effort to reduce the number of wealthier households that will receive stimulus checks, they did not go far enough, and other changes — like removing the minimum wage increase or providing a lower unemployment benefit — undermined policies that I support. I voted for a $15 minimum wage in the last Congress, and given the opportunity, I intend to do so again.
I know there are people who will continue to need assistance getting through the final stages of this pandemic, which is why I have argued that Congress should have addressed their needs with a targeted bill that extends unemployment benefits, funds vaccine distribution, and increases investments in our public health infrastructure.
My vote today should not be construed as an unwillingness to support my constituents and the economy through this pandemic. That very willingness is why I have supported $4 trillion in spending in the last year on food assistance, child care subsidies, relief for renters and homeowners, federal unemployment assistance, and support for small businesses. However, many of these programs are not currently at risk of running out of funding, thanks to the nearly $1 trillion bill we passed in late December, and some of these programs are only just now beginning to be distributed to people in Maine.
When combined with the over $4 trillion we have already spent battling the coronavirus, borrowing and spending hundreds of billions more in excess of meeting the most urgent needs poses a risk to both our economic recovery and the priorities I would like to work with the Biden Administration to achieve, like rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure and fixing our broken and unaffordable healthcare system.”
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Mitch voted in favor and said nice things about him afterward.
“Wealthier households” fuuuuuuuuuuck off.
Also, the bill passed the House today but Biden’s not going to sign it until Friday, what the fuck? Dems simultaneously referring to this as urgent and taking forever to pass it is driving me insane.
You get an extra news cycle if you don’t sign it the same day it’s passed.
It generally takes a day or two for a bill to get to the president’s desk after being passed. The law ( 1 U.S. Code § 106) requires a physical copy to be properly prepared and certified before being transmitted to the White House for signing. The bigger and more complicated, the more amendments there are, the longer the process can take.
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Archaic bullshit like this is infuriating. It’s two thousand goddamn twenty-one.
Related: MTG doing stunts like calling to adjourn and roll call votes on things that are obviously going to pass. Apparently these things can take an hour. Why? Just have a yes or no button on your podium or whatever. Shit should take 2 minutes max.
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I don’t think it is archaic bullshit at all. It’s as reasonable as asking that electronic voting has a paper trail that can be audited.
The MTG roll call votes only work because of temporary changes to procedure because of COVID.
I don’t think these are remotely comparable. Congress votes are public record.
The physical copy is completely unnecessary. And so is the certification. Whatever the text of the bill was when it was passed is the text of the bill. The only certification that should be required is “Passed House 305-130” and “Passed Senate 60-40” or whatever the votes are, which can be done immediately after declaring passage.
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I think Manchin will be on board with student loan forgiveness. Enough to kill the filibuster? I don’t know. Can that be included in the next budget reconciliation?
Top Shot hosted by Colby Donaldson?
He won in 2018 via ranked choice voting, having been behind on the first counting, then winning on the second counting. Lots of us Massachusetts progressives sent him money, wrote postcards, held fundraisers, and made phone calls to help get him elected.
After that, he now has the advantage of incumbency, and maybe he knows his constituency, and that’s why he’s always voting against the Democratic party line. I, for one, feel betrayed. Same thing with Spanberger, Circten Cynema, etc.
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Weren’t there limits on what could be done through budget reconciliation?
Yes there are.
Biden can just forgive debt himself. Good luck un-canceling it once he just f’n does it.
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I can understand this sentiment of betrayal, but at the same time, I feel like if we can actually get a Democrat in a district that is Trump+7 who will clearly vote for a few good things, we should just take the W.
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