Mitch McConnell introduces 'misguided' HEALS Act, Angry Internet rejects proposal: 'Shove it up his a**'
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday, July 27, unveiled the Republican HEALS (Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools) Act to address the coronavirus pandemic, including another round of $1,200 stimulus checks. According to The New York Post report, McConnell said the bill, expected to cost about $1 trillion, gives a liability shield to businesses and funds to schools.
It caps at 70 percent of pre-pandemic pay for a federal unemployment insurance supplement that lapsed last week. The stimulus checks will this time include extra cash for people with adult dependents, McConnell said. The bill's text, released by the Senate Finance Committee indicates every dependent — adult or child — qualifies for a $500 payment.
The report further explained that adults earning up to $75,000 get the full $1,200, but adults earning more would get smaller amounts. People who earn over $99,000 would again go empty-handed. People with no income and those who receive Social Security are eligible for the full amount. However, the GOP plan reduces the unemployment supplement.
McConnell defended the move and said it was “eight times what Democrats put in place when they controlled the White House and Congress during the Great Recession”. According to the report, the new bill would give states a supplement of $200 per unemployed person unless they submit a plan showing how they would cap benefits at 70 percent of pre-pandemic pay.
McConnell defended protecting businesses from liability which many Democrats oppose. He said businesses could still be sued in cases of gross negligence or misconduct. The bill includes more than $100 billion allocations for schools to use to safely reopen in the fall and a $2 billion emergency fund for states to support needy people, including through cash assistance via food-stamps programs.
These proposals didn’t go down well people. Some took to Twitter to express their disappointment. Most people were of the opinion that McConnell was protecting businesses. One said, “So the HEALS act basically allows employers to force you to work without any kind of liability if you get sick, yet doesn’t provide hazard pay. The extra $600 in unemployment becomes $200. Honestly, every essential worker should just quit their jobs.”
Similar thoughts were expressed by another user who said, “GOP are hoping $1200 is enough to make people forget they're losing most of the pandemic unemployment money & that businesses can't be held accountable for exposing their employees or customers to COVID-19 under the HEALS act.”
The anger among citizens was quite clear and they didn’t mince words to express it. One said, “Why am I listening to a millionaire telling me that $600 a week is too much for me to receive during a pandemic where my entire industry has been obliterated? Please, can someone take the proposed Heals act and shove it up Mitch’s a** with a red hot poker? Thanks.” A miffed user said, “It is big money lobbying in full effect,” about the proposed liability protection. Another one said, "Why does the party, who absolutely bungled the response to this pandemic in the first place, and cost the lives of upwards of 150K (as of now) Americans get to write the new bill? HEALS Act is a joke. We need to vote these monsters out in November."
According to a report in USA Today, McConnell’s proposal was criticized by conservative lawmakers as "misguided" and "expensive" and by Democrats as a ridiculously late effort that falls short of the nation's needs to weather the economic damage of the Covid-19 pandemic that has infected nearly 4.3 million Americans and killed more than 147,000.