Reporter Garret Graff noted one of the most striking developments to come out of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been the Republican-led Senate being willing to fast-track a judicial nomination after months of debate over a desperately needed coronavirus relief package.
There are still 30 million Americans out of work, the Department of Labor shows. Evictions are still moving forward, with very few states passing a hold. The CDC announced a temporary hold across the country, but it's being ignored. One family of four in Wisconsin was kicked out of their home.
“You know what, I’m telling you in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the sheriff’s department, they list that there is no restrictions,” said the landlord by phone. “If there was a restriction, I could not have done it.”
Americans who once held stable and high-paying jobs are going deeper and deeper into debt with no end in sight.
Democrats passed part four of the COVID-19 stimulus package in May but four months later the Republican-led Senate can't come up with a viable option. Instead, they created their "skinny" bill that didn't include stimulus funds for those who need it. Republicans knew it wouldn't pass, but they desperately needed to make it look like they cared.
"Its sole purpose is to solicit support from hardcore Senate conservatives who don’t really think the federal government needs to do anything more to deal with COVID-19 or its economic consequences," wrote New York Magazine's Ed Kilgore, calling it a "feeble gesture."
As Garret Graff explained, "You should be angry this morning that the GOP Senate, which has chosen not to pass coronavirus relief for nearly five months—amid an unprecedented economic and health crisis—evidently plans to push through a Supreme Court nominee in just 45 days."
"You know, just in case you want sense of the GOP’s true priorities—helping tens of millions unemployed, hungry, families, many facing eviction, and millions of devastated small businesses, including the nation’s entire restaurant industry, vs. overturning Roe V. Wade," he added.