Payroll, Priorities and Pandemic

Everyone remember that President Trump sorta rolled back payroll taxes, which for some workers has increased their paychecks ahead of the election. I’ve talked to some workers from other states that have received this bump in pay, or so it seems. Usually, their employers are Trump supporters.

I said “sorta” because many of these workers don’t realize that currently they’re on the hook for paying that money back when they file taxes for 2020.

However, they may see Trump as the reason for their checks getting a lift.

And, if the U.S. Treasury doesn’t get paid those payroll taxes, Social Security and Medicare will be that much more in jeopardy that much sooner.

These budgetary concerns will be made worse every day the pandemic continues to bubble and spread in America without a national testing and treatment strategy, especially if the states and local governments are forced to make deep cuts in order to balance their budgets in the coming months.

  • Deep cuts mean pink slips to your neighbors and family members.
  • Deep cuts mean more needs for more services.
  • Deep cuts mean more instability, more pain, more suffering and less economic activity.

Senate Republicans are eager to stuff Barrett onto the Supreme Court for a lifetime appointment in less than 30 days yet they can’t deliver support and relief to the American people over the last 3 months.

We don’t know enough about her, but we know enough about them.

What we have learned about Barrett is that she’s willing to parade her 7 children into a super spreader event without any thought as to the risk when she herself had the virus just months ago.
Can we please put that aside and focus on doing the basic job of governing during a crisis for the American people instead of rushing a constitutional process involving a lifetime appointment?

Please rarely works. Demands sometimes do. Consequences, however, often are necessary for first an openness and then a willingness to begin a change in behavior. Developing a strategy, adjusting it during implementation and following through with it until the job is done is something Congress does not do well at all this century.

Examine the Affordable Care Act, which was not perfect (no one said it was), but which has been systematically sabotaged and diminshed through legislative malaise, destabilziing legislative intervention and now 3 1/2 years of executive administrative level interference, which will crescendo in the Supreme Court later this year with a final attempt to kill the law and coverage of the American people’s pre-existing conditions.

We just pray President Trump’s consequences aren’t fatal for anyone that was at Barrett’s nomination super spreader event. We already know the consequences of his pandemic response.
Inaction by Senate Republicans will cost jobs, will cost our economy and will likely cost more lives than we’ve already lost this year.

It’s not like Senate Republicans don’t know how to achieve difficult objectives, even if it hurts the American people. They just don’t know how to solve big problems, which is why they have no healthcare plan after 10 years of saying it was coming out in a couple weeks. We’ve been waiting on Trump’s healthcare plan for 3 years. I think the issue here is in believablity of that claim.

With a potential crisis in healthcare, which Republicans have created, it would seem a better idea to focus on some relief from the problems President Trump has not only not been able to solve but has fallen victim to as well.

The American people have been suffering and dying all year from Covid-19. Our economies are suffering and many small businesses are on the brink. We need you, Senate Republicans, to focus on us, what we need and on saving our jobs, not giving one lifetime appointment out in a rushed manner. We know you’re not working on a healthcare plan.

Do your jobs. Help the American people. Usually, that’s a good reelection strategy. It’s definitely the job description.

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