Huppke: GOP mocks Democrats new coronavirus bill as 'aspirational,' but it's big, bold and exactly what America needs

Photo by Patrick Semansky of The Associated Press / Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. Standing behind McConnell is Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-South Dakota.
Photo by Patrick Semansky of The Associated Press / Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. Standing behind McConnell is Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-South Dakota.

Americans are facing the most urgent economic crisis since the Great Depression. Small businesses are shutting down by the thousands, unemployment has rocketed into double digits and the virus causing this mayhem is far from contained.

With people frustrated and fearful, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is focused on making sure businesses are legally protected from workers who get sick. And on Tuesday, he dismissed a Democratic effort to help struggling Americans by saying: "This is not a time for aspirational legislation."

This unprecedented moment in our nation's history is exactly the time for aspirational legislation. It is time for something big, something that will protect human beings and give Americans the reassurance they need to ride out this crisis without having to choose between losing their homes or contracting a vicious and highly contagious disease.

McConnell's dismissive statement was in response to a massive, $3 trillion coronavirus rescue bill House Democrats released Tuesday. Admittedly, the 1,800-page bill, in true Democratic form, tries to do too much. It ranges from the aforementioned protecting human beings (very important) to funding the Postal Service (also very important, but maybe a separate issue) to requiring airplane passenger to wear masks (important, but perhaps something airlines should handle).

The bill would provide $500 billion for state governments and $350 billion for local governments whose budgets have been decimated by coronavirus spending. The bill calls for a second round of stimulus payments to Americans, up to $6,000 for a household.

It allots $3 billion to increase mental health support, something Americans desperately need, and something Republicans should support since they've rightly expressed concern that the coronavirus shutdown is leading to increased drug use and suicide.

Other parts of the bill increase nutrition assistance benefits, provide billions in housing assistance, create $10 billion in additional grants for small businesses and extend the $600-per-week coronavirus unemployment insurance through the end of the year.

There's also more money for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, which are essential to finding safe ways to reopen the economy.

These are massive proposals aimed at addressing a massive problem.

Things are bad, and they're going to get worse. More than 20 million Americans lost their jobs in April. Unemployment is pushing 15%.

For the time being, and for an undetermined number of months to come, until there's a COVID-19 vaccine or at least a reliable treatment that dramatically reduces the death rate, forget everything you understood about how America's economy functions. It will not return to normal anytime soon, and anyone telling you otherwise is either ignoring or not fully grasping the situation.

Americans need help. They will continue to need help. And that help can't come in dribs and drabs.

This moment calls for a big, bold response. House Democrats have presented something undoubtedly too big and too bold for Republicans to stomach. That's OK. That's where debate and - dare I say it? - compromise needs to happen.

But to flippantly mock such a response as "aspirational" while working to shield companies from litigation? That's snotty and small.

Americans need their government to work for them right now, more than they have since the Great Depression. Americans need legislation that gives them hope, and protection. They need people to think big.

It's going to cost a lot on the front end. But without it, the costs will be incalculable, the suffering immense, and the responsibility a crushing weight on the shoulders of those who stubbornly stuck to thinking small.

The Chicago Tribune

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