The DC: 📜 White House, Senate GOP to unveil next coronavirus package, and... Should Congress remove Confederate names from army bases?

by Causes | 7.27.20

Welcome to Monday, July 27th, nerds and jocks...

Senate Republicans and the White House appear poised to introduce their next coronavirus relief plan Monday afternoon.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Sunday that the roughly $1 trillion GOP coronavirus relief plan is set to be released later today, and Senate GOP leaders are prepared to move quickly on the bill.

"We're prepared to act quickly. This is all about kids and jobs, this is our focus," Mnuchin said during an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

He added that the Trump administration and Senate Republicans are "completely on the same page" and "do have an entire plan."

The $1 trillion plan is expected to reduce the federal unemployment benefit to about $200 per week or 70% of the wages a worker earned before losing their job. Meadows said that the president was not interested in extending the $600 weekly boost to federal unemployment benefits that are set to expire on July 31. 

"The original unemployment benefits actually paid people to stay home, and actually a lot of people got more money staying at home than they would go back to work," Meadows said on ABC's "This Week." "The president has been very clear, our Republican senators have been very clear, we aren't going to extend that provision."

Or, as Mnuchin put it:

It "wouldn't be fair" to use "taxpayer dollars to pay more people to sit home."

Do you support the GOP-White House proposal?

For a politics-free guide to how to protect you and your loved ones from corona, click on over to our Coronavirus Info Center.

On the Radar

Census Omit Counting Unauthorized Immigrants?

President Trump has signed a presidential memorandum calling for the exclusion of unauthorized immigrants from the numbers used to divide up seats in Congress among the states.

"I have accordingly determined that respect for the law and protection of the integrity of the democratic process warrant the exclusion of illegal aliens from the apportionment base, to the extent feasible and to the maximum extent of the president's discretion under the law," the order states.

The Constitution mandates that the census conducts “an actual enumeration” of the “whole number of free persons” in the U.S. every ten years. Since the first census in 1790, both citizens and noncitizens — regardless of immigration status — have been included in the country's official population counts.

"The House of Representatives will vigorously contest the President's unconstitutional and unlawful attempt to impair the Census," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said in a written statement. Per the Constitution, Congress, not the president, is tasked with carrying out the "actual enumeration" of the country's population in "such manner as they shall by law direct."

Should the census omit counting unauthorized immigrants?

Under the Radar

Congress Passes Defense Bills Requiring Renaming of Confederate Bases

Both chambers of Congress have passed competing versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2021, each of which would rename military bases named for former Confederates, by veto-proof majorities.

President Trump, who previously threatened to veto the NDAA over the base renaming provisions, tweeted:

“I spoke to highly respected (Chairman) Senator @JimInhofe, who has informed me that he WILL NOT be changing the names of our great Military bases and Forts, places from which we won two World Wars (and more!) Like me, Jim is not a believer in “Cancel Culture”.

The House and Senate will now form a conference committee to iron out differences between their bills with the goal of producing a final version of the NDAA that is approved by Congress and signed into law.

It’s unclear whether the conference committee will look to remove the renaming provisions or strike a compromise between the House and Senate bills, which differed in their approach to the issue. 

Should Congress require the renaming of military bases named after Confederates?

Also Worth a Click

• Congress to Honor Rep. John Lewis as Coronavirus Relief Negotiations Kickoff

And, in the End…

Have you watched Hamilton?

On this date in 1777, the Marquis of Lafayette arrived in New England to help the American colonists fight the British.

Don't throw away your shot,

—Josh Herman

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