What the American Rescue Plan does, and doesn’t do
The American Rescue Plan, now law from President Joe Biden’s pen, is first, last and only a COVID-19 relief bill, as it should be, coming on the one-year anniversary of the pandemic’s declaration. It is not a transformation of the country’s priorities, as some advocates on the left claim, nor a second coming of the Great Society.
Appropriately, the $1.9 trillion in financial assistance to suffering Americans, pushed through without any Republican assistance, is meant to be targeted and temporary, starting with $1,400 direct payments to individuals. The $300 in extra weekly unemployment compensation is for six months.
The jump in the child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,000 (and $3,600 for the littlest kids) is a one-timer. The increase in the earned income tax credit is just for 2021. Then it all goes back the way it was. The extra money going out is all temporary.
What could have been the most significant and far-reaching provision, a higher federal minimum wage, isn’t there. And that wasn’t because of Republican opposition, but because some Senate Democrats had qualms. The minimum should rise, although more than doubling to $15 an hour by 2025 seems to be too high, too quickly.
There’s no much in there that is permanent, just as COVID-19 isn’t permanent. There’s money for vaccines and testing. There’s funding for better ventilation for schools and reducing class sizes. There’s support for transit agencies and local and state governments.
The argument goes that the enhanced child tax credit and earned income tax credit will be popular and could be made permanent. Sure, but remember that the $600 weekly strings-free Pandemic Unemployment Assistance was popular too, but it’s long gone.
— New York Daily News
The Cuomo probes: Find the facts, all of them
Joon Kim, a former Manhattan U.S. attorney, and employment lawyer Anne Clark are now special deputies to the first deputy attorney general charged with investigating allegations of sexual harassment against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Their written findings will be made public, as they must be.
The New York state Assembly Judiciary Committee is also commencing a possible impeachment proceeding, promising not to interfere with the special deputies. That is a fair and reasonable step, as the described behavior, if substantiated, is incompatible with holding a position of public trust.
Meanwhile, the press is continuing to publish details about the incidents that rocked the standing of the country’s longest-serving governor and could topple him. All are disturbing, but the most troubling is from the Albany Times Union about Cuomo using a ruse a to summon a younger, female subordinate to the private living quarters of the executive mansion and then placing his hands under her blouse.
No universe exists in which it’s acceptable for the 63-year-old governor, the most powerful man in the state, to fondle a young staff member. It wouldn’t matter if this were the only accusation — it’s a charge of a degree so severe that, if proved, would suggest the governor lacks the character and judgment to continue leading this state.
As the calls for Cuomo’s immediate resignation grow, the investigation is gearing up, an investigation that should continue and decide his fate.
— New York Daily News