Trump’s slush fund: 6 reasons the GOP bailout bill is great for the rich but not for most workers

03/23/2020 2:34 pm ET • Dara Brewton

Reasons why the Democrats don't want the GOP's recovery package

Source: Flickr/Gage Skidmore

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is lashing out at Democrats because they are rejecting the coronavirus stimulus package. He claims his colleagues should “be embarrassed” for failing to agree to the terms in the $1.8 trillion plan.

But there are some very valid reasons why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the other Democrats aren’t keen on the details. The Republicans may be throwing a few measly bones at the American public, but the biggest winners in the package are the corporations.

“This is a national emergency,” McConnell says. Democrat agee that it is a national emergency and that therefore the stimulus package needs to help and protect the American workers—not big corporations. As Alex Lawson, the executive director of Social Security Works, puts it:

“Mitch McConnell sees the coronavirus pandemic as just another excuse to shovel money at his Wall Street billionaire donors.”

The slush fund

20 Incompetent Current and Former Members of the Trump Administration 1

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In its current form, the stimulus package includes $500 billion that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin can hand out to corporations at will. The kicker? Mnuchin doesn’t even have to say where the money is going for six months.

Millions may now lose their jobs. And Trump wants our response to be a half-trillion dollar slush fund to boost favored companies and corporate executives – while they continue to pull down huge paychecks and fire their workers. Here’s what I know and how we stop it:

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) March 22, 2020

Trump gets a cut?

Trump Hotel uses fundraiser to pocket donor money as profit

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It will also provide tax relief to many businesses including those in the hospitality industry.

While speaking to reporters at the White House on Sunday, Trump was asked if his own properties would be exempt from receiving any of the bailout money. Trump responded, “let’s just see what happens.”

“I’ve learned: let’s just see what happens,” he says.

So Trump is opening the door for Trump hotels to receive aid money (like other hotel chains presumably will).

— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) March 22, 2020

Bailing out cruise lines

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Trump has promised to save the cruise industry, and there is a provision in the package for cruise lines.

There is a very good reason to let the industry sink. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian are the top three lines, and they are all based out of Miami. However, all of their ships sail under foreign flags from places like Panama or Bermuda. By flying these flags, the ships avoid things like U.S. corporate taxes and our domestic labor laws.

Cruise ships have been referred to as the “sweatshops on the high seas” because of the poor treatment and pay given to workers.

Bailing out cruise lines? They fly under a foreign flag to avoid U.S. taxes, they don't pay many of their employees near minimum wage, they don't follow EPA standards. Get right with America first before being bailed out.

— John Weaver (@jwgop) March 17, 2020

No worker protections

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer discussed one of the main concerns with giving corporations money to stay afloat: the workers.

He said the stimulus bill currently bails out corporations “with no protections for workers and virtually no oversight.”

True to form, John Cornyn just blah-blah-blahed corporate bailouts with no protections for workers, no accountability to the executives, and not enough help for hospitals and healthcare workers.

Texas, please take out your garbage this November.

Organize. Register. Vote.

— TrumpsTaxes (@TrumpsTaxes) March 23, 2020

Doesn’t protect seniors

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While there is some money being allocated to keep vulnerable senior citizens fed during this time of crisis, the Republican’s bill is seeking to waive the nutrition requirements in the meals for the elderly.

The bill waives nutrition requirements for meals for senior citizens, a population more likely to get sick and end up needing care.

— Kati (@FersharX) March 23, 2020

It cuts Social Security

Trump's slush fund: 5 reasons the GOP bailout bill is great for the rich but not for most workers

Source: Picpedia

McConnell and the GOP are also looking to make huge cuts to Social Security in their stimulus package.

Alex Lawson explains, “It allows employers to ‘defer’ their Social Security contributions, but in practice, these contributions are unlikely to ever be repaid. McConnell will then turn around and use the resulting funding gap to advance his longstanding goal of cutting Social Security benefits.”