This Article Shows How Republicans Should all Go down

[bdamomma]

https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/unconscionable-senate-republicans-block-emergency-paid-sick-leave-bill-as-experts-declare-a-pandemic/

Snip off article:

Critics lambasted Senate Republicans on Wednesday after Sen. Lamar Alexander blocked a vote on an emergency paid sick leave bill hours after the World Health Organization officially declared the global coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) moved to speed the proposal through the legislative process so senators could quickly vote to guarantee all American workers 14 days of paid sick leave in the event of a public health emergency.



“For many of our workers―restaurant workers, truck drivers, service industry workers―they may not have an option to take a day off without losing their pay or losing their job,” Murray said. “That’s not a choice we should be asking anyone to make in the United States in the 21st century.”

Claiming the bill would be an “expensive” and burdensome mandate for employers, Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, blocked the Senate from voting on the bill, saying it must be voted on first by the GOP-controlled Health Committee.



“This is unconscionable. Every last one of them should lose their jobs,” said Alex Wall of CAP Action, of the Republican senators.

[Newest Reality]

1. As this...

Judging from the results in Italy, as this major crises falls down on us like a ton of bricks, it is going to expose a lot of problems, neglect and major issues in this society. This is an hour of reckoning to come and it has been in the making here for several decades. What was ignored and de-emphasized will float to the surface and the sound will be deafening.

The fragility induced by having half of your citizens, (in the wealthiest of countries) living on the edge of substance is only one of the problems that will be mad evident. Up until now, it was rather easy to marginalize and overlook all that, but now we get to see that a country is only as strong as all of its members to some degree. If half of us are so financially weak that we can't even weather a viral storm without failing and falling down, then what does that say about the country other than, the rich will survive?

This will strip bare many facades and reveal severe discrepancies in our systems from top to bottom in historical proportions. This is going to be quite a ride.

[Docreed2003]

2. Our always courageous Senator Alexander

So very concerned about the expense when it comes to bills that would benefit average people, no concern for cost when it comes to tax benefits to wealthy and corporations.

[maxsolomon]

3. Alexander's not going to let Murray sneak this through

It would be a massive sea change in worker's rights. So he didn't. There will be zero consequences for blocking it.

Alexander is 79. He's up for reelection this year, but he's in TN. Pretty unlikely to unseat him. He'll serve until he collapses into a pile of dust, like all the other tottering grandees of the "Greatest Deliberative Body on Earth".

The Senate is where Democracy goes to die.