For people asking about the insane & corrupt tax giveaways in the deal (ex. the “3 martini lunch” trash 🚮) much of that gross stuff is actually the omnibus.
It’s a little confusing, but basically there’s 3 major components to the COVID deal: 1. Rule 2. Omnibus 3. COVID relief
For context, it actually took 3 votes to pass this COVID bill.
1st vote: The Rule (process vote)
The rule vote cleared the way for the bill to be brought to a vote so soon after text dropped.
It passed, which is one reason why the vote happened so fast. (I & others voted NO)
2nd vote is the Omnibus.
What’s that? Basically the “deal” is centered on tying COVID relief to funding the gov(aka Omnibus).
They were tied together so pols who were against COVID relief (checks, SNAP, UI, etc) could trade for their horse write-offs etc in the Omni. Gross, no?
It’s gross but also true!
The dilemma many were dealing w/ was: bc these things were tied together, it made clean COVID relief impossible. You can largely thank Mitch for that. I’m not saying this is all 1 party but fr he’s awful.
Anyways the Omnibus has most of the gross stuff
The omnibus is actually a collection of legislation that funds each federal agency (Homeland Security $ + Enviro $ + NASA $, etc).
There are many agencies, so the 2nd vote was the omni w/ DHS, DoD, Fin Services & a lot of the “pork” leg people are objecting to (I also voted NO)
The THIRD vote had the actual COVID relief: the too-little $600 checks, $300 in UI, SNAP⬆️,etc.
There were also some omnis tacked on, but less controversial. (I initially voted PRESENT on this bc this process is so F’d up, but then YES bc my families are so hungry. Wanted to 🤢)
Anyways, that’s a very loose breakdown (at least process-wise) of how it went down.
Process is important because it’s how pols get overwhelmingly corrupt and unpopular things into legislation. They can’t campaign on it, so many use process & obscure deals to sneak things in.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Some ppl say a cosponsor list isn’t “genuine” & forcing a vote, even if it fails, will add clarity by “putting ppl on the record” (even though cosponsor list IS on the record).
Problem is w/ a GOP Senate, ppl can still disingenuously vote bc they know it’s going to a graveyard
So now you’ve actually made life harder for organizers bc if you suspect a cosponsor isn’t a “genuine” supporter, you now just gave them a chance to cover when stakes are low - so now they can ward off pressure
Pay attn: actual M4A grassroots organizers haven’t pushed for this
Grassroots organizing & pressure campaigns take an insane amount of work & preparation
Key organizing moments may look like random uprisings & viral internet moments to some, but they aren’t- they are result of years of targeted organizing & ppls’ mvmts, aided by present moment
Today many are buying gifts or donations for the holiday season.
Right now, small businesses & food aids across the country REALLY need our help.
Let’s help & commit to shopping small this year wherever we can.
Comment w/ links for your favorite 🎁 from small biz & orgs below:
Here are a bunch of small businesses from #ShopSmallAstoria in my community, and they ship nationwide. They range from bookshops to zero-waste gifts for friends and family 🎁
On the Bronx side, I ♥️ @thelitbar - an Afro-Latina run bookstore founded as the ONLY bookshop in the Bronx.
If you are planning on gifting new books this year, please order them from an independent bookstore!
It’s not too late for them to do the right thing. Lincoln Project should take the L and publicly pledge to give a lot of their fundraising to the people who actually made a big difference.
There are folks running around on TV blaming progressivism for Dem underperformance.
I was curious, so I decided to open the hood on struggling campaigns of candidates who are blaming progressives for their problems.
Almost all had awful execution on digital. DURING A PANDEMIC.
Underinvestment across the board. Some campaigns spent $0 on digital the week before the election. Others who spent did so in very poor ways.
If I spent only $12k on TV the week before an election & then blamed others after, you’d ask questions. That’s how it looks seeing this.
Ideology + messaging are the spicy convos a lot of people jump to but sometimes it’s about execution and technical capacity.
Digital execution was not good, polls were off, ironically DCCC banned the firms who are the best in the country at Facebook bc they work w progressives!
Imagine trying to explain to your colleagues who are members of Congress what Twitch is 😭
Some context for a few folks getting upset at this: Congress is voting on legislation regarding Twitch today.
It’s totally fine if you don’t know what Twitch is. But tech literacy is becoming an growing need in Congress so we can legislate to protect people’s privacy, etc.
When our legislative bodies aren’t sufficiently responsive to tech, then that means we don’t have the tools required to protect people.
This is partially why companies know way more about you than you may even be aware of - bc it’s legal, and Congress is struggling to keep up.