Jeanne Shaheen has been working relentlessly today to rewrite history about why she filibustered the Phase III Conornavirus relief bill and what that filibuster actually achieved.
For example:
These happen to be the talking points that CryingChuck Schumer directed his Democrats to repeat (source 8:29 AM tweet from @JakeSherman):
So let’s take these one by one:
“$150 billion for States” – Let’s start with a later tweet from Shaheen’s mouthpiece:
To begin with, Shaheen helped write the “sham bill.” And the “sham bill” contained $252 billion of aid to States.
Next, this was a request of the National Governor’s Association. In other words, it was requested by Democrat and Republican Governors. Also, $1.25 billion does NOT go “straight to NH” as Shaheen’s mouthpiece claims. It can only be used to offset NEW spending (after 3/1) that also was not budgeted-for and that must be directly attributable to Coronavirus. So, for example, it cannot be used to offset a loss in tax revenues. (Source Tax Foundation).
“$55B more for hospitals” – From the Federalist’s Chris Bedard:
“$27B more for small biz” – Again, I’ll quote Bedard:
Moreover, there was no Republican opposition to increasing aid to small business. It could have been achieved without the filibuster and would have been achieved if the Democrats did not walk out on negotiations for a totally unrelated reason.
Naturally, when Jeannie needs to get her message out she goes to WMUR’s John DiStaso:
The linked to article is simply a regurgitation of Shaheen’s press release. DiStaso was too lazy to even pretend to balance it with something from the GOP side.
I am not going to refute everything line by line. Shaheen’s propagandists get paid to produce her propaganda; I do not get paid to refute it. But I urge you to compare it to Bedard’s article in the Federalist to get an idea of what brazen spin it is.
Of course, DiStaso also omits all the unrelated pork Shaheen and her colleagues did manage to cram into the bill:
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting: $75 million
- National Endowment for the Arts: $75 million
- National Endowment for the Humanities: $75 million
- Institute of Museum and Library Services: $50 million
- The Kennedy Center: $25 million
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): $20 million
- Legal Services Corporation: $50 million
- Internal Revenue Service: $250 million
- House of Representatives salaries and expenses: $25 million
But what I find most odiferous about DiStaso’s “article” is the revisionist history:
Here is what Shaheen said when she first began spinning her filibuster:
I don’t see anything about “direct aid for the states.” Do you? And during the filibuster, here was one of the things Shaheen was tweeting about:
I didn’t see any tweets about “direct aid for states.”
Of course, we all know that Shaheen is engaging in revisionist history when she claims that she filibustered over “direct aid for states.” As I posted previously:
If it were about “direct aid for states,” Shaheen never would have walked out on negotiations. Everyone in Congress is spending money like it grows on trees. The filibuster was over Pelosi’s wish-list:
- Risk Limiting Audits of Elections (whatever that means).
- Corporate pay statistics by race and race statistics for all corporate boards at companies receiving assistance
- A bail-out of the Post Office.
- A student loan bailout.
- Diversity mandates for corporate Boards of Directors.
- Requiring all States to offer “Early Voting”.
- Requiring all States to offer “Same-Day Voter Registration”.
- Increased collective bargaining rights for federal employees.
- Requiring airlines to offset carbon emissions.
- Requiring airlines to report greenhouse gas emissions for every flight.
- Retirement plans for newspapers.
- $15.00 minimum wage at any business receiving assistance (NO exception for small businesses).
- Permanent paid leave at any business receiving assistance.
- A program to expand minority banks.
- “Diversity and Inclusion” mandates for any business receiving Coronavirus-relief funding.
GraniteGrok alone is trying to hold Shaheen accountable for playing politics with Coronavirus. I hope you find this post worth sharing.