Politics Random, Random

[mmmm8]

Because of the outdated US clearing system, it's possible the banks would also not see that money before Tuesday or Wednesday. The ones depositing immediately are possibly fronting the money as soon as the government sends it but before they have it.

[JazzNU]

Definitely. Though it is telling that they didn't make it available now. At least at some of the bigger banks, people are reporting their checks as pending. Given that there's not an actual concern that it will clear, the big banks could've made the money available like the smaller banks and credit unions appear to have done. There are some that had it pending yesterday, available today. Others pending yesterday, available on Monday. The 17th is the official payment date, that's why that is the date given by the various banks. It'll benefit the banks' bottom line. But those additional days might be difficult for those that are the most in need.

[ti-amie]

If you read his Twitter bio you'll see why this "mea culpa" is a big deal.

[JazzNU]

Stuart is a harder one to take for me than several of the other Lincoln Project crew. This reply to his tweet is where I'm at right now.


David Lytle
@davitydave
Replying to @stuartpstevens

I’m honestly glad you’re having this epiphany, but I need to hold your feet to the fire over experiencing this when YOU finally need the government’s genuine help. I hope you spend the rest of your life working to help others to make amends.

https://twitter.com/davitydave/status/1 ... 2917951492

[ti-amie]

Stuart is a harder one to take for me than several of the other Lincoln Project crew. This reply to his tweet is where I'm at right now.


David Lytle
@davitydave
Replying to @stuartpstevens

I’m honestly glad you’re having this epiphany, but I need to hold your feet to the fire over experiencing this when YOU finally need the government’s genuine help. I hope you spend the rest of your life working to help others to make amends.

https://twitter.com/davitydave/status/1 ... 2917951492

With rw'ers it's always "socialism" or "handouts" or "let the free market be" until something happens to them and then, as you rightly say, the have an epiphany. At least this one didn't hide what he was doing like the former guy and his "spouse".

[ti-amie]

The response is to this tweet.



I mean Jen Psaki is out there every day explaining what the Biden Administration is doing and why. Maybe, instead of a side show these "reporters"/"journalists can start doing what their elders did and track down leads instead of waiting for the daily floor show by the former guy.

[JazzNU]

Peter getting ratioed big time. Well deserved for this non-story.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[JazzNU]

[ti-amie]

Pressure works!

[ti-amie]

Ohio attorney general sues Biden administration over $1.9 trillion stimulus
Dave Yost, a Republican, alleged that the law contains unconstitutional restrictions on the way the federal government restricts aid to states.
By
Tony Romm
March 17, 2021 at 1:40 p.m. EDT

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sued the Biden administration on Wednesday over its $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, alleging the federal government sought to impose “unconstitutional” limits on states’ ability to access some of the aid.

The lawsuit from Yost, a Republican, follows a day after 21 other GOP attorneys general issued their own veiled legal threat in a move that ratcheted up tensions between states and Democratic policymakers in Washington over one of the largest rescue measures in U.S. history.

The Ohio lawsuit centers on a $350 billion fund meant to help cities, counties and states cover the costs of responding to the coronavirus pandemic. The stimulus law opened the door for cash-strapped local governments to tap federal aid to pay for expenses, including for first responders, although it prohibited states from using the money to directly or indirectly offset new tax cuts.

To Ohio, though, the restriction on cutting taxes is overly broad, putting states that had planned any tax cuts — even those that predate the pandemic — in jeopardy of losing access to the federal relief money. Yost said the federal government had no right to make a such demand, and the attorney general asked a federal court in Ohio to grant a preliminary injunction preventing the portion of the stimulus law from being enforced.

“The Tax Mandate thus gives the States a choice: they can have either the badly needed federal funds or their sovereign authority to set state tax policy. But they cannot have both. In our current economic crisis, that is no choice at all,” Ohio’s lawyers wrote in the court filing.

Yost, in an interview, said the “plain meaning of the statute is unconstitutional.”

The lawsuit echoes the criticisms raised by other Republican leaders, who wrote Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday to ask her to clarify the law’s application by March 23 — or face “appropriate additional action.” The letter from the attorneys general of Arizona, Georgia, West Virginia and 18 other states said the stimulus, absent clarification, “would represent the greatest invasion of state sovereignty by Congress in the history of our Republic.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A White House administration official, speaking on background on Tuesday, because they were not authorized to comment on internal discussions, said Congress is well within its rights to “establish reasonable conditions on how states should use federal funding.” The official added that the American Rescue Plan doesn’t prohibit all tax cuts, just that they have to replace the revenue in some other way — and they can’t use stimulus funds to do it.

(...)

This week, the Biden administration tapped Gene Sperling, a former top White House budget official, to oversee its efforts across Washington to bring the stimulus online. Biden and Vice President Harris, meanwhile, embarked on a national tour to promote the benefits of the plan, which will send them both to Georgia on Friday.

Ohio’s legal salvo comes as the Treasury Department only is just beginning its work to implement the $350 billion local aid program, which will take weeks to stand up. Mayors, governors and other local leaders nationwide for months had called on Washington to deliver them the significant burst of cash, citing the impact of the pandemic on their bottom lines. More than half of all U.S. states have seen revenue fall from the prior year, cutting deeply into their spending and employment, even as they’ve managed to stave off the most crippling cuts.

Ohio, in particular, stands to see about $11.2 billion in fiscal relief at the state and local levels, according to a March analysis from the Congressional Research Service. The money could provide a boost after Gov. Mike DeWine ordered $390 million in new spending cuts across state agencies in January.

But Yost said his state, and others like it, may find themselves struggling to take advantage of it given the federal governments restrictions. His lawsuit contends "every change’ in tax policy that could affect revenue ultimately violates the stimulus prohibitions, even though the Constitution gives states broad latitude to manage their own budgets. He also said the U.S. government had overstepped in seeking to force states to pay back the money if they do impose tax cuts.

“Let’s assume they spend the whole thing, and the federal government comes back and says . . . we want the money back," the attorney general said. "Well, it’s gone. Where are we supposed to get that?”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-polic ... y-general/