Exactly three weeks ago, Rep. Thomas Massie enraged all of Washington when he attempted to force a roll-call vote on the massive $2 trillion coronavirus relief package.
The libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican’s move would have required members of Congress, including those who are elderly and among the most threatened by the novel coronavirus, to return to Washington. Massie was attacked and called a “Grandstander,” “Un-American,” and even a “Masshole” by many high-ranking officials.
Virtually everyone agreed that this was no time for stunts: Pass this bill! Americans need relief now!
Massie’s effort failed due to a parliamentary workaround, but the question remained: Why would he risk his colleagues’ health for such a vote? The congressman argued that representing the people was an essential service and that “the biggest transfer of wealth in human history” deserved not only a recorded vote but also some transparency.
“The tragedy of this bill is it’s a massive wealth transfer from the middle class to the moneyed class,” Massie warned on March 30.
As many citizens received their stimulus payments this week, many also noticed that aspects of this aid looked rotten. For starters, while mom-and-pop restaurants battled to get their pieces of the $350 billion “Payback Protection Program,” large chain restaurants got them first.
While small businesses of all types, from salons to bars to auto shops, waited for relief, some hedge funds had applied ahead of them for a loan. So many big businesses and others applied that by Thursday, the money ran out.
Many little guys are still desperately waiting. Still, the rich got theirs.
“The rules for qualifying for the loans, though, were so loose that the program was opened up to many businesses and people who were not the intended recipients, which is one of the reasons the program hit its ceiling so fast,” NBC News reported Thursday. “It has become a huge benefit for private clubs, law firms, investment managers, and accounting firms that have the resources to complete their applications quickly. Some wealthy individuals have set up LLCs (limited liability companies), which technically qualify for the loans, and put their yachts and planes and personal staffs in the companies in order to qualify.”
Wouldn’t these dollars have been distributed better if means-testing had been implemented? If only someone would have demanded more oversight?
Massie’s frequent libertarian ally, Sen. Rand Paul, who opposed the Senate version of the coronavirus aid bill, blasted it for the fact that wealthy people would be getting checks.
“Government checks shouldn’t go to people like me,” Paul insisted in a March 22 Washington Examiner opinion article.
“My multimillionaire brother-in-law has many assets, but his annual income will make him and his children eligible for a check,” Paul wrote. “He is passionately certain that he does not need a government check and instead wants that money to go to someone who is unemployed because of the pandemic.”
The stimulus checks could have been potentially larger if more effort had been made to target specifically those in need.
Instead, dead people are getting checks.
Ok this is insane, but just the tip of the iceberg. This is a direct text to me from a friend. I called to confirm this actually just happened. pic.twitter.com/GBRPcmYMXW
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 15, 2020
It’s little wonder that Republican-turned-independent Rep. Justin Amash blasted the spending as a “corporatist scheme.”
“Just ten years after the Tea Party movement, Republicans in Congress are defending a $500 billion corporate welfare fund for a select group of large companies,” Amash tweeted on March 26.
As Washington leaders began discussing a “Phase 4” coronavirus aid package, Amash suggested on March 31, “I’ve got a better idea for Phase 4: Repeal the convoluted, counterproductive, corporatist scheme that just became law and replace it with monthly cash relief to the people for the duration of this crisis.”
There are likely many ordinary folks right now who would agree with Amash’s more direct, less crony plan.
As the first round of Congress addressing this crisis continues to unfold, many will get some help, but many who didn’t need it will also. Those taking advantage of the aid will be too many to ignore, particularly when their gains leave others without.
Expect more examples of corruption and greed to emerge. Expect more voices to raise a justified fuss over it. This is already happening on social media and is not exclusive to one part of the ideological spectrum.
Many working “essential” jobs right now to deliver the rest of us food and services will be affected by the government’s failure to deliver relief. Maybe Massie is right, and our representatives actually doing their jobs is more essential than they thought.
In Washington’s rush to “do something” in a crisis, it often does the wrong thing, whether by corrupt intent or just the inherent buffoonery of government. We need someone to urge caution and common sense in the name of doing the right thing, even in a panic.
Someone did.
