House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, would like to spend more now. Never let a crisis go to waste! She eschewed working across party lines and instead put together a \u201cwish list\u201d of Democratic priorities to serve as a marker during the next round of stimulus negotiations. She also believed she could put pressure on the Republicans to act as the economy continues to crater,\u00a0with\u00a0nearly 39 million\u00a0Americans losing their jobs in two months. For their part, they produced the Health Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, (text;\u00a0section-by-section;\u00a0one-pager;\u00a0state and local fact sheet), a sweeping\u00a0$3 trillion package\u00a0approved by the House.<\/p>\n
The bill includes:<\/p>\n
As you can imagine, many of these provisions are not only anathema to the GOP but clearly intended to do political damage. A great example is the $600 plus up in unemployment payments, which would have a discouraging effect on the labor market, hampering a recovery right until the next president is inaugurated! But pressure is mounting for action, especially with those in tough reelection battles who want to be seen as helping their constituents. And while it has been reported that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)\u00a0told Trump\u00a0during a private meeting this week that the next piece of legislation has to be under $1 trillion, he is overseeing a divided caucus where many want to see greater spending \u2013 such as on infrastructure and aid to state and local governments \u2013 which will be hard to contain. The president is also interested in a large infrastructure deal.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s looking like $4 trillion in spending at least before outside lobbyists and events push the spending even higher.<\/p>\n
What do I mean by outside events? Can you say Green New Deal?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n You may have seen the headlines that the world output of CO2 has dropped by 17% (over 30% in the US) to levels previously seen in 2006. While that number might seem significant, it means that the world still generated more than 80 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions that it did last year during the same period. Once the world returns to normal, scientists predict that the decline will be between 4 and 7 percent for the year. Why this matters?\u00a0A United Nations\u00a0report\u00a0released last fall said that emissions must begin falling by 7.6 percent each year,\u00a0starting this year, to avert the worst consequences of climate change.<\/p>\n The lead author of the\u00a0study,\u00a0Corinne Le Qu\u00e9r\u00e9, summed it where this is heading well. \u201cWe can see now that behavior change alone is not going to do it,\u201d said Le Qu\u00e9r\u00e9. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of inertia in the infrastructure, in the built environment. \u2026 Where they put this stimulus is critical. It\u2019s 2020, and there\u2019s not much time to tackle climate change.\u201d Many European leaders have already stated they\u2019ll target much of their relief toward the greening of their economies.<\/p>\n And the anti-PATG group\u00a0Patriotic Millionaires\u00a0is also upping their game. They have hired their first outside lobbying firm.\u00a0Mariah Sixkiller\u00a0and\u00a0Madison Strader\u00a0of\u00a0Sixkiller Consulting\u00a0will lobby \u201cin support of an economic relief plan that prioritizes the needs of working people during the COVID-19 crisis,\u201d according to a disclosure filing. And they\u2019re already\u00a0urging Congress to mandate that private foundations payout 10 percent of their assets\u00a0over the next three years as part of the next coronavirus relief bill, up 5 percent now.<\/p>\n Family Enterprise USA<\/a> is the organization that represents all family businesses on a national level in DC; it is not unique to any industry. FEUSA is different from other organizations because it represents and advocates for the families of family businesses and the issues, they face running their businesses every day. Our sole mission and purpose is to promote family businesses and their job growth in America. We also support the work of Family Business Centers across the country. We hope your family will choose to be a member of FEUSA. Family Enterprise USA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Family foundations can donate.<\/a><\/p>\n
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