New Stimulus Bill Not Good Enough, But Better Than Nothing

 Millions of Americans are hurting in this pandemic recession, and their plight was about to get much worse as benefits and protections ran out.

Congress should have dealt with this months ago, but they delayed and delayed -- mostly because Republicans did not want a new deal (at least one that helped someone other than the rich).

Finally, under pressure, a bipartisan group came up with a compromise. It didn't do everything that needed to be done, and doesn't do more than offer a short reprieve.

But to a starving person, half a meal is better than nothing. And this stimulus bill, with all its shortcomings, is also better than nothing. Without solving all the problems, it does give at least some help.

But there were some in Congress that voted against the bill -- 50 Republicans, 1 Independent, and 2 Democrats in the House voted against the bill. Six Republicans in the Senate voted against the bill.

I understand why the Republicans voted against it. They didn't want to offer any help at all to hurting Americans. For them, the only Americans worthy of help are the rich.

But the 2 Democrats should be ashamed of themselves. They are Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. I know the bill didn't do everything they wanted it to do. I was disappointed in it also. But isn't a little help better than no help at all? And in reality, their vote (symbolic though it may have been) was a vote to do nothing. And nothing is exactly what would be accomplished if this bill had failed.

They voted against the good, because they wanted an unreachable great. That's ridiculous, and it's not the way politics works in a representative democracy.

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UPDATE -- Now it looks like the passage of the bill will be for naught. Donald Trump is saying he might veto it. He wants $2000 payments instead of $600 payments, and asks that some other things be excluded from the bill (even though they are not in the stimulus bill, but in the budget bill). 

It's too late to amend the bill, since it has already been passed -- and I doubt the Republicans would start over with a higher payment at this point (since they originally didn't want any payments at all).

Trump is doing what I accused others of doing in my post above. He's risking NOTHING will get done, so he can try and make himself look generous (purely a political move). If he vetoes this bill, there will be no bill passed until next year (and probably not until after Biden in sworn in). And if the GOP retains control of the Senate, there might not be any bill at all.