Second COVID 'Relief' Bill Passes - Along With BILLIONS in Pork For Foreign Countries and Gov't Programs

P. Gardner Goldsmith | December 22, 2020
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Pathological politicians just used you as hostages in their ploy to further expand government and insult the Founders. Last night, the U.S. Senate passed its combined “COVID19 Relief” ($900 billion) and omnibus “stop-gap” budget/spending bill (nearly $1.4 trillion) to fund the federal gub'ment through September of next year.

It’s a monstrosity totaling 5,593 pages that was so large, it had to be moved with a wheelbarrow across the Capitol, so physically enormous that, as Kentucky Rep Thomas Massie (R) pointed out, none of his House colleagues could have read it in the four scant hours they’d had to see it.

Only six Senators -- all Republicans -- opposed it, and they were: Rand Paul (KY), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Rick Scott (FLA), Ted Cruz (TX), Mike Lee (UT), and Ron Johnson (WI).

Six. And they could have opposed it for the simple fact that any honest person would not vote for a bill he or she had not even been able to read in total. Or they could have opposed it for the myriad horrifying, insulting, unconstitutional, immoral spending plans they saw during their quick scans.

This is a combined spending creature that, as Thomas Massie tweeted Monday afternoon, will see $10 MILLION showered on Pakistani “gender programs,” which, as Massie (and NewsMax’s Emerald Robinson) tweeted, will see another $700 million sent to Sudan, and, which the bill itself reveals, will send hundreds of millions of dollars to Egypt, Ukraine, Israel, and other foreign governments.

It includes $4 billion to go to Chuck Schumer’s darling New York City to bail out its already-failing subway system that was made even worse by Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio’s arbitrary and unbelievable COVID19 lockdowns and business closures.

It includes $13 billion for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (enjoy finding that in the Constitution -- take your time, it’s not there), with $11.2 billion of that supposedly “earmarked” to be spent on subsidizing government-favored agribusinesses. That on top of the fact that in the spring, the Trump administration already thumbed its nose at the Constitution and instituted a $19 billion direct subsidy package to “help” agribusinesses.

Then there’s the added wonder of the “Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act,” the darling of KY GOP Senator Mitch McConnell, that will create a new federal “authority” over the sport of horse racing, imposing “regulations” and showering money, to, as USA Today says, “have major impacts on one of the commonwealth's most prominent industries by addressing medical and safety standards in horse racing.”

And while we’re talking animals, who can forget Planned Parenthood, the founder of which (Margaret Sanger) viewed some humans as no better than beasts and wanted them culled through abortion and selective breeding? As with the last COVID19 CARES Act’s “Paycheck Protection Program” which saw the offensive abortion organization get $80 million, Planned Parenthood will receive cash through it again, though the exact amount remains to be seen.

And, even though many of us had already chosen to avoid movie theatres because we were turned off by the leftist messages Hollywood moguls insisted on throwing on the screen, they’ll be getting our money anyway, and so will Broadway, which, again, was shut down by collectivists like De Blasio and Cuomo. That redirection of our wealth comes to (cue cash register sound-effect), $15 BILLION.

The bill also included, as Representative Doug Lamborne (R- CO) noted:

$23.9 billion-dollars for green new deal loan guarantees, $10 billion dollars to bail out the USPS, $180 million increase for the EPA, $40 million dollars for the Kennedy Center, and $10 million for gender programs in Pakistan. This legislation lays the groundwork for a “Climate Security Advisory Council” and contains COVID19 relief which is overly broad. For example, this legislation includes a $300 weekly federal supplemental unemployment benefit that will unfortunately make one half of Americans receive more by staying home than if they went back to their jobs. It also provides a $600 stimulus check to all Americans whether they are employed or not.

Oh, and the bill also includes millions in handouts to Microsoft, and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, as well as… well, let’s allow the Associated Press, via BayNews9 to offer some more of the greatest hits. The bill showers cash on:

Vaccines, testing, health providers ($69 billion). Delivers more than $30 billion for procurement of vaccines and treatments, distribution funds for states, and a strategic stockpile. Adds $22 billion for testing, tracing and mitigation, $9 billion for health care providers, and $4.5 billion for mental health.

But wait, there’s more!

Schools and universities ($82 billion). Delivers $54 billion to public K-12 schools affected by the pandemic and $23 billion for colleges and universities; $4 billion would be awarded to a Governors Emergency Education Relief Fund; nearly $1 billion for Native American schools.

And...

Rental assistance ($25 billion). Provides money for a first-ever federal rental assistance program; funds to be distributed by state and local governments to help people who have fallen behind on their rent and may be facing eviction.

And…

Includes an almost 400-page water resources bill that targets $10 billion for 46 Army Corps of Engineers flood control, environmental and coastal protection projects… Boosts 'clean energy' programs like research and development, efficiency incentives and tax credits. Phases out 'superpollutant' hydrochlorofluorocarbons… Education. Includes a bipartisan agreement to forgive about $1.3 billion in federal loans to historically Black colleges and universities and simplify college financial aid forms. Boosts the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students by $150 to $6,495. Offers 'second chance' Pell Grants to incarcerated prisoners.

It also creates…

New Smithsonian museums. Establishes the Women’s History Museum and the National Museum of the American Latino as new Smithsonian museums located near the National Mall.

And it…

Adds, after the scandal involving Boeing 737 MAX crashes, legislation to beef up the Federal Aviation Administration’s aircraft certification process. Addresses human factors, automation in the cockpit, and international pilot training while authorizing nearly $275 million over the next five years to carry out the legislation.

Because, as we all know, the giant corporation, Boeing, shouldn’t be responsible for handling the liabilities of its own inventions, and neither should any other airplane manufacturer. Not in America, the land of liberty! Others should be enslaved for that.

And make no mistake, this is enslavement. Regardless of the anger people may feel when comparing all these monumental handouts to their paltry “Relief Checks”, there is something much bigger afoot.

Yes, the “relief” is insulting for many. As The Texas Tribune observes:

The most direct impact the legislation will have on the average American is a $600 payment to individuals making less than $75,000. The payout will be reduced for those making between $75,000 and $99,000 and will not apply to individuals who earn more than $99,000 a year. The bill will reinstate supplemental unemployment benefits of $300 per week. This is half of what was allocated for individuals in the previous COVID-19 economic package.

But the deeper points are these…

First, unless Congress actually is handing back tax cash, not one penny of these “relief funds” for hurting Americans is sanctioned by the Constitution. Yes, most of the financial hardships people are experiencing right now are the result of state and local government lockdowns, but the federal government has no constitutional power to address those problems other than to see Donald Trump sue states and cities for breaches of the Bill of Rights and other constitutional strictures such as the Contract Clause. Showering debt-financed money on us, the victims, is just not in the Constitution, period. And for more on that, I refer you to the famous 1831 “Not Yours to Give” speech delivered by then-Congressman from Tennessee, David Crockett. It was Crockett who reminded future generations that the Constitution does not grant the federal government any so-called “power” to hand money to people for what the politicians see as “charity” during times of need. Since there is no such power, the feds would have to ask for an Amendment, granting them the power.

And, of course, they have not done that.

So, not only are the international pork projects, the huge bailouts of the NYC subway and theatres, the new bureaucracies and special-interest-based museums infuriating when compared to the measly checks Americans might receive, all of it -- including most of the checks Americans might receive -- are NOT sanctioned by the Constitution.

But, as Rahm Emanuel told Hillary Clinton, the politicians “never waste a good crisis,” and so they will spend this money, via debt, and thus turn newborns into workhorses for their devilish, evil political plans, claiming they are saving Americans, when they are ENSLAVING Americans.

And they expect us to not complain, but, instead, to thank them for it.

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