Famously summed up early in Obama's administration by his Chicago hatchet man Rahm "Dead Fish" Emanuel, who said, "Never let a crisis go to waste," Democrats are borrowing a page from Obama's playbook to frantically push their COVID relief bill.
Once Democrats got the checkbook, the only way to kill this pork-laden spending bill would have been for their resident COVID expert, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to send it to a New York nursing home.
The Wall Street Journal examined the bill and concluded that - best case - $825 billion of the $1.9 trillion in spending that Democrats call "COVID" relief is actually for COVID-19 relief. The rest is blue, poorly-run, Democrat state and city bailout money that can be spent to get Dems elected in 2022. Remember Obama's "shovel ready jobs" bill? We got nothing, and friends of the left got money in their coffers.
It was sickening to watch Democratic senators slap themselves on the back for spending this money. They love to spend our money on themselves. They have even spent $24 million to replace two refrigerators on Air Force One. Clinton would never have spent this money. He could have kept perishables frozen by placing them between Hillary and himself.
The Capitol Building was stormed, and the Dems came unglued. Tens of thousands of National Guard troops and barbed wire fencing are now protecting them, and they are seldom even in Washington. So far, this vanity project has cost $500 million. When asked when the troops would go home, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki indicated "the fall." My question is: the fall of what?
In much the way Obama funded his government union supporters with his bailout bill, Dems have found a way to fund mail-in voting, which will help them in future elections. They feel strongly that no one should have to turn off "CSI New Orleans" and put on their pants to go vote.
And of course, colleges and teachers' unions will get money. These are the folks who are getting paid in full now for not teaching, while parents and property owners pay taxes and tuition to fund their sitting at home. Sitting around and getting paid for not working? Who do teachers think they are, members of Congress?
We have a generation of kids who will have been schooled at home by day-drunks. Whether online learning works at all is questionable. The only evidence I have that online learning works is that a buddy of mine says he has watched so much porn during this pandemic that he is now fluent in Russian.
There is very little help in this spending bill for those actually harmed by government's arbitrary and often draconian shut-down measures. For example, Walmart had to close 250 stores, which put four cashiers out of work.
We have spent so much money in excess of the $4 trillion in tax dollars the feds take from us each year that our deficit is ballooning. We borrow a lot of it from China, of all places. Forget replacing populist Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. We might have to put Chinese leader Xi Jinping on it, instead.
There is no honesty in Washington amid all the partisan noise. The only quiet time you can find in D.C. is when someone asks politicians to suggest ideas to reduce spending.
The spending debate took place on the House and Senate floor. It was done by politicians wearing masks, so at least we finally get some honest optics when they rob taxpayers. Millennials, who do not understand that this is borrowed money that will have to be paid back, really like the bill. The only things millennials hate more than being denied free stuff is breaking up in person.
Voices of reason are scared to take on the retribution-driven Democrat machine. Trump is banned from social media, Rush Limbaugh died, and now I can see Nancy Pelosi bringing Tucker Carlson up on impeachment charges in the Congress.
Contact Ron Hart, a syndicated op-ed satirist, author and TV commentator, at Ron@RonaldHart.com, or visit www.RonaldHart.com.
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Ron Hart