Stimulus Package Includes $86 Billion Bailout for Union Pensions

An $86 billion bailout for nearly 200 union pensions was included in the Democrats’ massive stimulus package, which President Joe Biden is expected to sign into law soon.

More than a million unionized truck drivers, retail clerks, construction workers and others would likely miss out on retirement income without the bailout, according to The New York Times. The union bailout, among the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package’s provisions unrelated to the pandemic, rescues 185 pension plans across several states.

“There’s more money in this to bailout [sic] union pension funds, than all the money combined for vaccine distribution and testing,” Republican Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty tweeted last week.

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GOP Blocks Standalone $2,000 Stimulus Payments Bill, House to Vote on Proposal Monday

House Republicans blocked legislation Thursday that would have sent $2,000 in direct payments to Americans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

House Democratic and Republican leaders met early Thursday morning in a pro forma session and held a unanimous consent vote on the standalone direct payments proposal, according to CNBC. Republican leadership voted the measure down, sinking the effort, which required all lawmakers present to unanimously vote in favor for it to pass.

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Tennessee’s Congress Members Rushed to Issue Same-Day Vote on the 5600 Page Stimulus Bill

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scheduled a vote Monday evening for a hefty bill dropped on Congress earlier that same day. The spending bill totals nearly 5,600 pages.

The bill was unavailable prior to this afternoon, a delay reportedly caused by “computer glitch[es].” In addition to the $900 billion in pandemic stimulus spending, the bill includes $1.4 trillion for other expenditures. 

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Washington Based National Correspondent for The Tennessee Star Neil W. McCabe Weighs in on Lawsuits, Stimulus Bill, and Swalwell’s Spy

Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the Tennessee Star National Correspondent Neil W. McCabe to discuss the possibility of a new stimulus package, what the Supreme Court will do with the Pennsylvania and Texas lawsuits, and Swalwell’s Chinese spy scandal.

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Senator Blackburn: Democrats Are Working with Us to Pass COVID-19 Relief

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) shared that the current COVID-19 relief bill is a bipartisan effort closer to $1 trillion. The senator explained in a press conference Thursday that the move is favored by Democratic legislators over efforts by House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

“The good thing is that there are Democrats that have said to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer that they think it is wrong to hold out for a $3 trillion dollar deal, and saddle our future generations with that debt. So they’re working with some Republicans on a bill that is closer to a trillion dollars. So, the bill that we as a Republican conference had agreed on was about a $600 billion bill.”

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Cotton Bill Blocks Stimulus ‘Handout’ to Illegal Aliens

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton announced legislation Tuesday that would prevent state and local governments from using public funds to make coronavirus assistance payments to individuals living in the United States illegally.

Cotton plans to introduce the No Bailouts for Illegal Aliens Act, an amendment to the CARES Act that would restrict any future payments to states or municipalities until they certify they’re not distributing stimulus checks or other payments to illegal aliens.

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Democrats’ $3 Trillion ‘Relief’ Package Declared Dead-on-Arrival, Republicans Say

A new Democratic bill proposed by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), without input from Republicans or the Trump administration is “dead on arrival,” top Republican leaders say.

The White House has said it wants to wait and see how the $3 trillion Congress already allocated will impact the economy and help Americans suffering from the economic shutdown due to the coronavirus.

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