Gary Varvel for March 24, 2020

Yep, RNC meme of the day. Divert attention from the Republican $500B slush fund for the Trump family to use. I guess American workers are now “special interests”.

To Varvel, citizens of the United States are “special interests” who should not be allowed to have what right(wing)fully belongs to the rich.

Wow! First things first, Democrats! The Arsonist-in-Chief needs water for his corporate swimming pools.

Gary – Please take a better look at the bill that Mitch drew up with only GOP input. If the Dems had drawn it up you’d be screaming as would I.

Trump gave the first 50 Billion to the airline executives. The service industry needs help.

Yeah, let’s just give all the money from the stimulus package to the big fat corporations and their CEOs. Duh! Doesn’t anyone remember 2008/2009?

Its exactly the other way around, Republicans want a slush fund for the rich

Dems want accountability.

Right wing cartoonists must draw right wing/Fox brainwash.

Pretty simple; Reds wanna give it to the few on top and Dems wanna give it to the many on the bottom.

Notice, Trump’s helmet doesn’t have an R.

True Republicans don’t want him, any more than establishment Democrats want Sanders. Trump was the candidate that they got stuck with.

All McConnell does is manipulate and use him. Trump is the foil, to keep the wits of America focused on and afraid of “Demonrats”.

Trump is ruining our nation, and it is time for the Republicans to admit their own failure.

when in doubt, lie, lie, lie…

Republican Varvel always gets it wrong. Not that he cares really. If Trump hadn’t spent precious time calling Coronavirus a hoax and botching testing we would have fewer cases. Democrats wanting protections for workers who are losing their jobs is catering to Americans, not special interests.

Republicans try to sneak a provision into their ‘Stimulus’ to set the stage for Social Security cuts

We’re in trouble now when “special interests” are considered to be the needs of ordinary citizens. The much touted $1200 per person aid package has now been converted into the billion dollar slush fund for big business. Sounds like Repub trickle down economics again. And the only thing stopping the Repub’s plan is the minority of Dems in the Senate to get it passed.

Business as Usual. Every Politician has Special Interest Groups they have to pay back for Campaign Donations.

Gary, you’re either overdosing on Fox (hate&fake) News or you’ve caught COVID-19, like many of your republican friends, and in your case it’s affecting your mental and observational powers of reality.

Every group will demand their cut.. it’s the American way.

$1.2T is a huge n umber and I’m not anywhere near comfortable with it. The House version is reportedly $1.6T or more! This is insanity, folks.

You have the players reversed I believe. The special interests are the corporate bailouts with ZERO accountability.

Republicans want to pump the dollars needed by working people who’ve lost their income into barrels labeled “GOP wallets” and “Rich Executives”.

This is by far the stupidest Varvel ’toon I have seen.

Yes, of course! Economy first!!! Screw the people who contribute to make that economy a reality, who needs people buying things?

Varvel is simply reflecting GOP values … Government of, by, and for the Rich!

Sure, the GOP’s plan to give more handouts to corporations and the rich has nothing to do with special interests… Trump’s hose should be connected to a gas tank.

Congratulations Gary, once more you have it exactly backwards. Didn’t your mother teach you better?

Special Interest Groups, like the “Hospitality Industry”? You know, Trump’s own properties, or the cruise lines which foreign-flag all their ships in order to avoid paying US taxes and follow US safety and labor regulations?

The big banks that stole depositors’ money by starting fraudulent accounts?

The airlines which bought-back all their stock, instead of keeping a cash-reserve?

Oh, you meant “special interests” like medical and allied-health students who will still have to pay back loans while Braun (that’s US Sen. Mike Braun, for non-Hoosiers) gets a tax credit for his distribution company?

Or maybe the servers at Steak’n’Shake, or Wendy’s, or Chik-Fil-A, or …, restaurants who ‘ll be going without a paycheck, *but don’t make enough money* to get the paltry 1200 bucks Trump and McConnell are talking about (and which they’ll have to count as income in 2021. )

Those special interest groups….

fusilier

James 2:24

Trump said (paraphrased here) “that even though I’m a Republican, I don’t want executives to use this money I’m giving them to buy back stock and enrich themselves” thereby stating publicly that ordinarily REPUBLICANS DO WANT EXECUTIVES TO ENRICH THEMSELVES LIKE PIGS AT THE TROUGH!. I don’t suppose that’s a shock to anyone except to the extent that it’s finally been admitted.

“If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.” Joseph Goebbels

Slush fund. No oversight. Really? Have you looked at the bill?

Direct Lending Limitations: executive total compensation may not exceed $425,000; prohibition of stock buybacks during the duration of the loan; borrowers must maintain existing payroll as of March 13.

Pelosi Bill Pork and Special Interest part 1:

Union giveaways …

• Nullifies the White House executive orders on federal collective bargaining and codifies taxpayer-funded union official time.

• Requires a labor union representative on every airline’s board of directors.

• Multiemployer pension bailout lacking needed reforms.

• Permanently raises the minimum wage to $15 for any business that receives federal aid for COVID-19.

• Cancels all debt owed by the U.S. Postal Service to the Treasury.

Well, at least Covid is mentioned. I suppose that makes it all good.

Pelosi Bill Pork and Special Interest part 2:

Green New Deal priorities …

• Requires all airlines that receive assistance to offset carbon emissions for domestic flights by 2025.

• Includes a $1 billion “cash for clunkers” airplane program where the Transportation Department buys fuel-inefficient planes from airlines in exchange for agreeing to buy new ones.

• Includes expansive new tax-credit for solar and wind energy.

Gosh, that stuff is absolutely CRITICAL to the virus problem.

Pelosi Bill Pork and Special Interest part 3:

Student loan forgiveness…

• $10,000 blanket loan forgiveness.

Federalizing elections …

• Mandates how states must run elections, including the nationalization of ballot harvesting, requiring early voting, same day registration, and no-excuse vote by mail.

• Puts states at risk of costly litigation if they are unable to implement these stringent mandates ahead of the 2020 election.

And all this applies….how?

Pelosi Bill Pork and Special Interest part 4:

Immigration provisions …

• Requires the Homeland Security Department to automatically extend visas and work authorizations expiring within the next year, including those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status, for an amount of time equal to their prior visa, authorization or status.

• Limits Customs and Border Patrol’s ability to shutdown processing centers if there is a health crisis on the border and requires CBP to assure the timely adjudication of asylums applications.

• Would resume certain funding to go to sanctuary cities.

Millions of citizens suddenly out of work and Pelosi wants to protect immigrants and illegals.

Pelosi Bill Pork and Special Interest part 5:

Overreaching mandates on businesses …

• Permanent changes to who can serve on corporate boards of directors for companies that receive assistance for payroll and operating costs.

• Mandatory disclosure on supply chain management.

• Requires board diversity disclosure for all publicly traded companies.

• Ban on all federal rulemaking including non-COVID 19 proposals (extends 30 days after emergency) “in an attempt to delay the current administration from promulgating actions House Democrats disagree with.”

Trump went along with the $8 Billion political pork bill because we needed the $2.5 Billion he requested RIGHT NOW.

Folks, we need to take action now on the larger measure, but Pelosi had created one of the biggest poison pills in US history. Pork padding is SOP in Congress…but NOT during an emergency. Voters are going to remember this grotesque power play come November.

Oops. I missed a couple permanent mandates.

• Virtually rewrites the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program policy with no reference to COVID-19 and permanently disallows rulemaking pertaining to work requirements and eligibility.

• Permanent expansion of Obamacare entitlement, “putting the American taxpayer on the hook for endless and unchecked health insurance spending and would remove all incentives for insurers to reduce the cost of health insurance.”

Mitch and the boys had a great bailout plan for the for the corporations with no serious accountability. It was another give away to the rich and connected. Even if a bailout plan is passed, it will be a short term fix. Nothing gets better until the virus is gone and people feel safe, regardless of what the talking heads at Faux tell you. Rump claimed greatest achievement in the stock market will be his undoing.

Yeah. When a right-winger labels something “special interests” you can bet it’s about helping average people or the ones who most need help. Because, you KNOW that plain or ordinary interest is only for the obscenely rich.

I would draw this totally differently. Trump is feeding special interests, shooting the water over the heads of the laid off workers. There was lots of corporate fraud in 2008. Oversight is required.

Andy puts so much effort into his propaganda rants that ya almost hate to bring him down. Almost…

By their own admission, before the COVID-19 outbreak Republicans/Trump proudly de-funded and dismantled our medical emergency preparedness capabilities.

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Immediate emergency funding for medical resources has already been [nearly – see Rand Paul] unanimously passed by Congress.

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Emergency economic stimulus funding has nothing directly to do with the medical situation, it is [or should be] used for all segments of society, [they call them ‘special interests’ when named individually] that need rescue.

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The truths, half-truths, and outright make-em-ups presented by this latest Republican meme will probably backfire on them. A majority of Americans might just realize that they support most all the things that our Democratic & Independent representatives are fighting for.

A couple of Dems suggested college loan forgiveness, it wasn’t included in the House bill.

If companies are going to get corporate socialism (bailouts) then there should be conditions or “strings attached”. Airlines should increase their research funding for better fuel efficiency and alternate energy – they have decreased this while their flights and profits increased. Boards should include work representation.

Republican bill wanted to provide HUGE amount of cash that Mnuchin could dole out to corporations without reporting who it goes to and with no oversight. Money could go to “affected businesses” like Trump hotels.

The Republican history has shown that corporations get infusions of cash or bailed out without oversight or “strings” – 2008 TARP, 2017 tax cut. Dems want to make sure the money is tracked. Yes, there are things on Dem “wish lists” that should be removed, but the infusion of money needs to go to those who actually need it NOW because they aren’t working and they don’t get sick days. They will actually SPEND that money.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6815519-CARES-Act-Final-Mar-2020.html

https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=6817883-FINAL-HOUSE-BILL

These links obtained from

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/23/820155258/read-house-democrats-release-3rd-coronavirus-response-bill

Yikes…

Since when are sick and laid-off workers a special interest? No strings on $500 billion in Corporate funding means Drumpf will funnel billions to his hotels and golf courses. How dumb do you think we are Varvel?

Oh please Garish. $500B vs $6 Trillion? You must be too young to remember 2008.