Defense Policy Bill Passed. Why Not a Comprehensive Stimulus Bill Too?

On Tuesday, 8th December, 2020, the House overpoweringly passed the $741 billion defense policy bill with a veto-proof bipartisan majority of 335–78 which made it out of the reach of Trump's wacky and weird veto threat (which always is, anyways). Even if Trump tries to veto the vote, the House would be in a position to override it. When I read , I felt extremely pleased about the prospect of bipartisanship returning to American polity regarding matters of national interests. I even started dreaming of this kind of unity among the Republicans and the Democrats extending into the future too, which can guide the nation to greater heights of growth and prosperity. To me the positive vote seemed an even greater achievement, especially when I read about the prerequisite in the bill to strip all the Confederate names from American military bases. To me, it seemed like a bold step to renounce the racially exclusionary past of America. It can have positive ramifications into making it a more inclusionary, more equal and a complete nation. But, then reality dawned on me. The thought of the inordinate delay by the Republican majority Senate and the White House in coming out with a comprehensive and effective plan to reduce our pain from the pandemic and from the economic downturn knocked me off the realm of my dream to the harsh reality of today's America.

Tens of millions of Americans are unemployed today; many more millions are food insecure and are facing eviction from their homes in the middle of the harsh winter. Hundreds of thousands of small businesses have shut down and many more who have run out of Paycheck Protection Program funds are about to close their shutters. Above all, people are fleeced by the private healthcare providers in the absence of a much needed free healthcare program for the COVID-19 patients. But, post the election, the White House has ditched all efforts to bring a fiscal stimulus package to help the ailing people and economy as if the President is on a witch hunt. He didn't bend even when the pandemic surged, forcing many states to adopt harsher measures which will increase the suffering of the people. Finally as a bipartisan agreement for a $908bn plan is being reached, the White House has from $180bn to $40bn and has included only a very insufficient $300 cheque per person per week for four more months. Still there is uncertainty about passing of the stimulus and if they fail to reach a deal on time, the pushing millions of families on to the streets and 12 million people could lose their unemployment benefits, pushing them into abject misery.

It is in this context we should be very very concerned when researchers from five major universities in the US have the lifting of eviction moratoriums by 27 states between March and September 2020 led to 433,700 excess infections and an estimated 10,700 excess deaths. It seems that when it comes to the suffering of people, bipartisanship evaporates, probably because there is no interest in it for corporate America, like it has in the defense policy bill. Our representatives are not genuinely interested in American families and small businesses and communities any more. That is an extremely dangerous thing to happen in a democracy. Perhaps we should evaluate the humaneness of our representatives before we select them to represent us.

The steep fall from the cushioning comforts of a wishful dream to the depressing lows of painful reality is really hurtful. But, it's absolutely okay to dream, right? For it is often the dreams that become reality.