10A Midweek Edition - September 9-10, 2020
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
POLITICS
McConnell proposes ‘targeted’ virus aid
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., center, walks to his office
from the Senate floor, Tuesday, Sept. 8, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
BY ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
said Tuesday the Senate would
vote on a trimmed-down Repub
lican coronavirus relief package,
though it has a slim chance of
passage in the face of Democrats’
insistence for more sweeping aid.
The Kentucky Republican
released the approximately
$500 billion measure as senators
returned to Washington for an
abbreviated pre-election session,
as hopes are dimming for another
coronavirus relief bill — or much
else.
Republicans struggling to retain
their Senate majority this fall have
been divided, with some GOP
senators in close races anxious to
respond further to the pandemic,
even as conservatives are tiring
of all the spending and passing
legislation in concert with liberal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
McConnell called the package
“a targeted proposal that focuses
on several of the most urgent
aspects of this crisis, the issues
where bipartisanship should
be especially possible.” They
included school aid, new money
for vaccines and testing, and a
second round of the popular Pay-
check Protection Program for
smaller businesses.
Democrats are demanding a
far larger bill, including hundreds
of billions of dollars for state and
local governments, more gener
ous jobless benefits, and help for
renters and homeowners, along
with other provisions in the House
Democrats’ $3.5 billion relief bill
that passed in May.
Republican senators such as
Susan Collins of Maine are eager
to show constituents they are con
tinuing to work to ease the pan
JACQUELYN MARTIN I Associated Press
demic’s disastrous impact on jobs,
businesses and health. But many
Senate Republicans are resisting
more spending and the scaled-
back bill is roughly half the size
of a measure McConnell unveiled
earlier this summer.
McConnell’s move Tuesday
would clear the way for a Thurs
day test vote in which Democrats
are sure to block the legisla
tion. Pelosi and Senate Minority
Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,
said the bill “doesn’t come close
to addressing the problems and is
headed nowhere.”
McConnell’s bill would provide
$105 billion to help schools reopen,
enact a shield against lawsuits for
businesses and others that are
powering ahead to reopen, cre
ate a scaled-back $300-per-week
supplemental jobless benefit, and
write off $10 billion in earlier debt
at the U.S. Postal Service. There’s
$31 billion for a coronavirus vac
cine, $16 billion for virus testing
and $15 billion to help child care
providers reopen. There is addi
tionally $20 billion for farmers.
The package will also include
a school choice initiative sought
by Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz and
others that would provide a tax
break, for two years, for people
who donate to nonprofit organi
zations offering private school
scholarships.
It would also provide for a $258
billion second round of paycheck
protection subsidies.
But it won’t contain another
round of $1,200 direct payments
going out under Trump’s name.
Pelosi, D-Calif., continues to
demand a package totaling $2.2
trillion, and while Trump’s nego
tiators have signaled a willingness
to inch further in her direction, a
significant gap remains.
Talks between top Democrats
and the Trump administration
broke off last month and remain
off track, with the bipartisan unity
that drove almost $3 trillion in
COVID-19 rescue legislation into
law this spring replaced by toxic
partisanship and a return to Wash
ington dysfunction.
Expectations in July and August
that a fifth bipartisan pandemic
response bill would eventually be
birthed despite increased obsta
cles has been replaced by genuine
pessimism. Recent COVID-related
conversations among key players
have led to nothing.
Democrats seem secure in their
political position, with President
Donald Trump and several Sen
ate GOP incumbents lagging in the
polls. Trump is seeking to sideline
the pandemic as a campaign issue,
and Republicans aren’t interested
in a deal on Democratic terms —
even as needs like school aid enjoy
widespread support.
Poisonous relationships among
key leaders like Pelosi and White
House Chief of Staff Mark Mead
ows give little reason for confi
dence about overcoming obstacles
on the cost, scope and details
of a potential relief bill. Pelosi
recently referred to Meadows as
“whatever his name is,” while the
Meadows-run White House during
a press briefing ran a video loop of
Pelosi’s controversial visit to a San
Francisco hair salon.
Postal chief under fire over alleged campaign law violations
BY MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Post
master General Louis
DeJoy is facing increased
scrutiny as House Demo
crats investigate allegations
that he encouraged
employees at his
former business
to contribute to
Republican can
didates and then
reimbursed them
in the guise of
bonuses, a viola
tion of campaign
finance laws.
Five people who
worked for DeJoy’s former
company, New Breed Logis
tics, say they were urged by
DeJoy’s aides or by DeJoy
himself to write checks
and attend fundraisers at
his mansion in Greensboro,
North Carolina, The Wash
ington Post reported. Two
former employees told
the newspaper that DeJoy
would later give bigger
bonuses to reimburse for
the contributions.
DeJoy was
already under fire
amid allegations
that operational
changes he made
since taking the
postal job in June
have delayed mail,
sparking concern
over the agency’s
ability to process a
flood of mail-in bal
lots expected this fall due
to coronavirus fears. The
House Oversight Committee
recently subpoenaed DeJoy
for records about wide
spread delays that have
pushed the Postal Service
into the political spotlight.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney,
who chairs the oversight
panel, said in a statement
Tuesday that if the alle
gations about campaign
finance violations are true,
“DeJoy could face criminal
exposure — not only for his
actions in North Carolina,
but also for lying to our
Committee under oath.”
She was referring to
DeJoy’s testimony before
her committee last month,
when he forcefully denied
he had repaid executives
for contributing to Trump’s
campaign.
Campaign finance dis
closures show that between
2000 and 2014, when New
Breed was sold, more than
100 employees donated
over $610,000 to Republi
can candidates that DeJoy
and his family supported.
The figure excludes more
than $1 million that DeJoy
and family members gave
to Republican politicians.
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of
North Carolina, who is fac
ing a tough reelection race
this year, was a top recipi
ent, collecting more than
$190,000 from over 35 com
pany workers ahead of his
2014 election, records show.
The contributions were all
made during a short win
dow of time, between the
end of September and the
first week of October.
Former N.C. Sen. Eliza
beth Dole collected over
$88,000 from New Breed
employees between 2002
and her losing 2008 reelec
tion bid, records show.
GOP presidential candi
dates Mitt Romney, John
McCain, George W. Bush
and Rudy Giuliani all col
lected tens of thousands
more from New Breed
employees during their
campaigns, records show.
It’s not illegal to encour
age employees to contrib
ute to candidates, but it is
illegal to reimburse them
as a way of avoiding fed
eral campaign contribution
limits.
Maloney, a New York
Democrat, urged the Postal
Service Board of Governors
to immediately suspend
DeJoy, whom she said “they
never should have selected
in the first place.”
Senate Democratic
Leader Chuck Schumer also
urged DeJoy’s suspension,
saying Americans had lost
faith in him.
Rep. Jim Cooper,
D-Tenn., who asked DeJoy
about employee contribu
tions at an Aug. 24 hearing,
said reimbursing workers
for making political contri
butions “softens the coer
cion, but it’s still coercion.
No oligarch or CEO should
tell you how to vote or who
you should give money to.”
Cooper said Tuesday
that he asked DeJoy about
employee contributions
after receiving a tip from
someone in North Carolina,
where DeJoy’s former com
pany is based. “The tip fell
on fertile ground,” he said,
adding that lawmakers will
likely issue subpoenas for
top executives at the com
pany and examine payroll
records to determine if
bonuses were paid, as the
employees claim.
DeJoy
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VIRTUAL EXPO
To register to attend go to
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look forward to “seeing" everyone!
Format Each Week:
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in questions via the chat feature on Zoom through out the
presentations to be ansmered during this time
• Prize Draming for Attendees
• Previem of next meek’s Speakers
Schedule for presentations:
September 2nd 10AM TO I I AM
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about Open Enrollment
• Lisbeth Fabiny, Five Seasons Health- Horn to manage sugar
cravings during stressful times
This year’s Healthy Aging Expo is going virtual! Every
LUednesday in September from IOam to I lam you mill
hear from 3 different Speakers, they mill be talking about
everything from health and fitness, Insurance, and even
preplanning. After hearing from our speaker’s attendees
mill be able to have questions ansmered for them, me mill
also have meekly prize giveamays for those mho attend.
September 9th I OAM TO I I AM
• Dr. Shan Sharif-NGPG Orthopedics
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September 16th 10AM TO 11AM
• Dr. James Kruer, NGMC Internal Medicine
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• Abigail Carr, NGHS-Bariatrics
September 23rd 10AM TO 11AM
• Dr. Monica Nemton, NGPG Family Medicine
• Little and Davenport
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September 30th 10AM TO 11AM
• Lauren Ayala, DNP-NGPG Family Medicine
• Drs. Ellen Sanders and Kelly O’Dell, Longstreet Clinic
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Kimbrough Law
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