In the Coronavirus Bill, Most of the Money for Ordinary People Is Thanks to Democrats

Say something!Kevin Drum

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Judging from my Twitter feed—I know, I know—conservatives know only one thing about the Democratic Party contribution to the coronavirus rescue bill: it includes money for Obamaphones and the Kennedy Center. I assume that this is basically the only thing Fox News has told them.

That’s the conservative noise machine for you. Even in the face of a massive pandemic the only thing they care about is pressing Trumpish hot buttons for their audience. Still, I wonder: how many people of any political persuasion understand that the expansion of unemployment benefits in the rescue bill is worth an extra $600 per week through the end of June? How many understand that this adds up to $10,000 or so? How many understand that this is literally the only thing in the bill that will keep most people whole while they’re out of work thanks to government lockdowns?

And how many understand that the only reason this is in the bill is because Democrats insisted on it? Republicans couldn’t have cared less. Their original bill bailed out businesses and gave people a flashy but utterly inadequate one-shot $1,200 check. That was it. That was all anyone would have had to get them through the next few months.

But why would anyone know this unless Democrats do something to take credit for it? Have they? Not that I’ve heard. So conservatives think Democrats were all about Obamaphones and the Kennedy Center, while everyone else figures that Democrats did nothing.

Once again, then, Democrats do the right thing but commit political malpractice by not crowing about it. It’s a wonder the party is still in business.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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