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1/ Last night, a reporter broke some information slightly incorrectly: they said military spending was in the COVID bill instead of the consolidated spending bill that contained it. As a result, I conveyed that part incorrectly. I’m sorry for that. But the larger points stand:
2/ The consolidated spending bill was all part of the same negotiations as the COVID relief bill. And the “relief” in that bill is entirely inadequate. $600 per person in a check. $25B in emergency rent relief. $300/week extended unemployment benefits. It’s nowhere near enough.
3/ Some Democrats are making a big deal about a 15% expansion of SNAP benefits. Current beneficiaries of SNAP receive on average $1.39 per meal. The expansion gets them to $1.59 per meal. And they are calling that a win?! C’mon.
https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/a-quick-guide-to-snap-eligibility-and-benefits#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20SNAP%20households%20received,%241.39%20per%20person%20per%20meal.
https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/a-quick-guide-to-snap-eligibility-and-benefits#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20SNAP%20households%20received,%241.39%20per%20person%20per%20meal.
4/ As many as 40 million Americans are at risk of eviction. So that $25B in emergency rent assistance? If they all need that money, it works out to $625 per person at risk. It’s a joke. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-covid-19-eviction-crisis-an-estimated-30-40-million-people-in-america-are-at-risk/
5/ The average rent in America is $1468. The average mortgage payment is $1557. If every penny of the extended unemployment benefit goes to housing, it STILL won’t cover the bill for most people. It’s not good enough.
6/ So when our government claims it can’t afford to keep its citizens housed and fed, what the hell is it doing spending billions of dollars on new weaponry? What the hell is it doing funding the militaries of foreign nations?
7/ This bill contains:
$1.3B in military aid to Egypt.
$500M in military aid to Israel
$2B in new missiles for the Air Force
$4B in new procurement for the Navy
$2B for Space Force
It is infuriating.
$1.3B in military aid to Egypt.
$500M in military aid to Israel
$2B in new missiles for the Air Force
$4B in new procurement for the Navy
$2B for Space Force
It is infuriating.
8/ Don’t you think that when millions of Americans are at risk of losing their homes, when tens of thousands of American businesses are disappearing, when people can’t afford to eat that maybe Israel and Egypt could tend to their own militaries?
9/ Now, I want to be very, very clear here: it doesn’t matter what country the $$ is going to. Instead of buying weapons at home or abroad, we should be buying food and housing and medicine. When we should be saving lives, we are investing in killing. It is morally repugnant.
10/ Our Air Force already has a huge stockpile of missiles. Our Navy has enough ships and ammunition. We don't NEED more missiles. We NEED more aid to families and small businesses that are in grave danger of not making it right this second.
11/ And yes, the military spending is the worst use of that money. But there are other terrible things in this bill. Tax cuts for racehorse owners. Tax cuts for NASCAR. Tax cuts for breweries. When we allegedly can’t afford to take care of our people, we take care of our rich.
12/ It doesn’t matter which piece of paper these horrible new allocations were written on. It doesn’t matter if it was in the COVID section of the 5,000 page bill, or the non-COVID section. COVID is everything right now. And our government does not get it.
