That’s what Pres. Trump said in a tweet on the record-shattering $2 trillion phase 3 stimulus package. Right by the Bay doesn’t question the need for government to step up to help the economy get through the coronavirus pandemic. But even during this crisis, the swamp continues to gurgle over. Here’s a sample of the 10% GROSS:
- $60 million for NASA (to fight the coronavirus in space?)
- $25 million for the Kennedy Center (to turn it into a makeshift hospital?)
- Streamline the approval process for sunscreen ingredients (so necessary as the nation shelters at home)
- $75 million in grants for state and regional arts organizations (because artists’ needs come first)
- $7.5 million for the Smithsonian Institution (to historically document the pandemic?)
- $300 million to help the U.S. seafood industry, including commercial and charter fishermen
- Spending cap exemptions for harbor dredging to help ports (bury the coronavirus?)
- $10 billion loan to the U.S. Post Office
Political agendas also creeped into the CARES Act:
- Outlaws the phrase “substance abuse” in favor the more politically-correct “substance use disorder”
- Provides tax-preferred treatment of feminine-hygiene products — legislation probably exported by California
- Bans companies that receive stimulus loans from weighing in on efforts to form labor unions
- Bans the use of stimulus money to pay for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico
- Supports programs to promote sexual abstinence among teens.
“It was not a Lincoln moment,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told FOX News’ Maria Bartiromo. Kennedy’s home state, Louisiana, is believed by epidemiologists to be one of the next hot spots of the coronavirus. “They [Congress] think that the American people are morons and won’t notice, but they did, it’s why so many Americans think there is no intelligent life in Washington, D.C. … This tells the American people that common sense is dead in D.C.”
And it’s not the end. Already, lawmakers are lining up for phase 4.
Rowena Itchon is senior vice president of the Pacific Research Institute
