If the Democrats are going to pass a minimum wage increase this year, it’s clear that they will need to get buy in from the 7 Democrats and independent Angus King who voted against including the $15 in the recent covid relief bill.
I thought it would be interesting to look at the current minimum wage in the states of these 8 legislators.
For two senators, Sinema (AZ) and King (ME), the wage is $12.15. For the two Delaware senators, Carper and Koons, the wage is $9.25. For two senators, Tester (MT) and Mancin (WV), the wage is $8.75. For the two New Hampshire senators, Hassan and Shaheen, the state minimum wage is $7.25, the same as the federal minimum.
It should be noted that the New Hampshire is somewhat of an outlier for the Northeast, compared to neighboring states. And Montana is somewhat higher than it’s immediate neighbors.
Right now, 20 states plus DC have a minimum wage of at least $10. Most states that either have no state minimum or follow the federal minimum of $7.25 are in the south.
Is there a rationale for senators from states with higher minimums to want to have the federal rate increased? That is, would a more level playing field help companies in their own state competes.
It will be interesting to see if one of these 8 Senators will take the lead on bringing forward a deal.
“The US organisation Freedom House has released its latest report on the status of freedom in the world. In a new development, Tibet is ranked as the joint-worst place in the world for civil rights and political freedoms.
The organisation’s annual Freedom in the World report, this year titled “Democracy under Siege”, gives countries and some territories a rating out of one hundred, based on a number of categories, such as whether they have a functioning government, whether they hold free and fair elections and whether people can express their views freely and without fear of punishment.
While countries including Finland, Norway and Sweden regularly score 100/100, Tibet has for the past six years only scored 1/100, giving it the second lowest ranking every year since 2016, behind only Syria. The only exception was last year, when only Syria and South Sudan, two countries going through civil wars, were deemed to have less freedom. A small increase in both countries’ rankings has shifter Tibet to joint bottom, again with 1/ 100.
China which has ruled Tibet since its occupation of the country in 1950, again received a low grade of 11/100. Like Tibet, China was categorised as ‘Not Free’.”
Booker Lauds Passage of American Rescue PlanMARCH 06, 2021WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) praised the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 by the Senate. Following the vote, he issued the following statement:“As we face economic and public crises unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes, the American Rescue Plan is an urgently needed and historic investment in the health and financial security of New Jerseyans and people across the country, a boost to our small businesses, a lifeline to state and local governments and a necessary step in our country’s long-term recovery.“This landmark legislation will issue another round of direct cash payments to families that need them, extend critically needed pandemic unemployment assistance, extend protections for renters and homeowners, dedicate resources to safely re-opening our schools and supporting our teachers, and, critically, will expand the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit to get help to those who need it the most. Expansions to the CTC and EITC as a part of the American Rescue Plan will lift millions of children out of poverty, put more money into the pockets of American workers and help middle class families across the country. …Corry Booker, talking this up on MSNBC Morning Joe today.Probably for the first time, I am proud to admitI myself originated in NJ.
The House is set to send a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan to Biden’s desk.The House is poised to give final approval to President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Wednesday, a landmark moment for the new president and Democrats in Congress, who have stayed united to push through the sweeping legislation.The vote will come seven weeks into Mr. Biden’s presidency, as the growing number of vaccine doses given to Americans offers hope that the country is on course to move beyond the worst of a pandemic that has killed more than half a million people in the United States.With final passage of the vast relief package, Mr. Biden will have succeeded in his first major legislative undertaking, though most likely without any support from Republicans. The vote in the House is expected around midday.Republicans have attacked the measure as wasteful and excessive. But those arguments have yet to gain traction outside the party’s base, with 70 percent of Americans supporting the package, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday.The bill, which cleared the Senate on Saturday, would send direct payments of up to $1,400 to Americans and extend a $300-per-week federal unemployment benefit until early September. It would provide funding for states and local governments as well as for schools to help them reopen. The bill also contains money for coronavirus testing, contact tracing and vaccine distribution.The legislation establishes an aggressive effort by the new president to drive down poverty, as the measure offers substantial benefits for low-income Americans, including a sizable one-year expansion of the child tax credit.“It’s a remarkable, historic, transformative piece of legislation which goes a very long way to crushing the virus and solving our economic crisis,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday.Mr. Biden is scheduled to showcase the legislation on Thursday during a prime-time television address marking one year since the virus prompted shutdowns across the country. …
And the Trump Admin ignored the warnings. And over half a million Americans died by Chinese and Trumpian incompetence. “When they sat down with the scientists at the WIV, the American diplomats were shocked by what they heard. The Chinese researchers told them they didn’t have enough properly trained technicians to safely operate their BSL-4 lab. The Wuhan scientists were asking for more support to get the lab up to top standards…. What they were worried about was something called “gain-of-function” research, in which the virulence or transmissibility of dangerous pathogens is deliberately increased. The purpose is to help scientists predict how viruses might evolve in ways that hurt humans before it happens in nature. But by bypassing pathogens’ natural evolutionary cycles, these experiments create risks of a human-made outbreak if a lab accident were to occur. For this reason, the Obama administration issued a moratorium on gain-of-function experiments in October 2014.The Wuhan Institute of Virology had openly participated in gain-of-function research in partnership with U.S. universities and institutions. But the official told me the U.S. government had evidence that Chinese labs were performing gain-of-function research on a much larger scale than was publicly disclosed, meaning they were taking more risks in more labs than anyone outside China was aware of. This insight, in turn, fed into the lab-accident hypothesis in a new and troubling way.” https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/03/08/josh-rogin-chaos-under-heaven-wuhan-lab-book-excerpt-474322?utm_source=pocket-newtab
China’s own information shows their genocide. “China’s genocide against the Uyghurs, in 4 disturbing chartsFrom internment camps to mass sterilization, here’s why the ethnic minority’s birthrate is plunging. That’s changed. China’s persecution of the Uyghurs — a mostly Muslim ethnic minority that Beijing paints as a separatist and terrorist threat — is now well established. Several survivors have reported enduring torture in the camps. We’ve also learned that China transfers many of the detainees to factories across the country to perform forced labor. There’s evidence that this forced labor has leached into the global supply chain for products we all use, from companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon.The new report says that the Chinese government’s actions have violated “each and every act” prohibited by the UN Genocide Convention, namely: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction, forcibly transferring children to another group, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group….Although the government denied the role of forced sterilization and claimed that compliance with family planning policies is voluntary, Zenz responded that it was not very likely that “17 times more women spontaneously wanted to be sterilized.”Take a look at this chart, compiled using data from China’s Health and Hygiene Statistical Yearbooks. The y-axis shows the number of sterilizations per 100,000 people.” https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22311356/china-uyghur-birthrate-sterilization-genocide
Congress gave final approval on Wednesday to President Biden’s sweeping, nearly $1.9 trillion stimulus package, as Democrats acted over unified Republican opposition to push through an emergency pandemic aid plan that included a vast expansion of the country’s social safety net.By a vote of 220 to 211, the House passed the measure and cleared it for Mr. Biden’s signature, cementing one of the largest injections of federal aid since the Great Depression. Mr. Biden is expected to sign the bill Friday. All but one Democrat, Representative Jared Golden of Maine, voted in favor.It would provide another round of direct payments for many Americans, an extension of federal jobless benefits and billions of dollars to distribute coronavirus vaccines and provide relief for schools, states, tribal governments and small businesses struggling during the pandemic.The vote was the culmination of a swift push by Mr. Biden and Democrats, newly in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, to address the toll of the pandemic and begin putting in place their broader economic agenda. It includes a set of measures that is estimated to slash poverty by a third this year and potentially cut child poverty in half, including expansions of tax credits, food aid and rental and mortgage assistance. … While Republicans argued the plan, whose final cost was estimated at $1.856 trillion, was bloated and unaffordable, polls indicate that it has widespread support, with 70 percent of Americans favoring the package, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday. … “This bill represents a historic, historic victory for the American people,” Mr. Biden said at the White House following the bill’s approval, thanking Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House.Final passage came less than two months after Mr. Biden took office and about a year after cities and states across the country began to shutter to stem the spread of the coronavirus.The measure will provide $350 billion for state, local and tribal governments and $10 billion for critical state infrastructure projects; $14 billion for the distribution of a vaccine, and $130 billion to primary and secondary schools. The bill also includes $30 billion for transit agencies, $45 billion in rental, utility and mortgage assistance, and billions more for small businesses and live performance venues.It would provide another round direct payments to American taxpayers, sending checks of up to $1,400 to individuals making $80,000 or less, single parents earning $120,000 or less and couples with household income of no more than $160,000. …
… Here are some of the ways that bill will help the middle class.
Direct Checks
This time around, Americans will receive stimulus checks of up to $1,400 per person, including dependents.
The size of the payments are scaled down for individuals making more than $75,000 and married couples earning more than $150,000. And they are cut off for individuals making $80,000 or more and couples earning more than $160,000.
Those thresholds are lower than in the previous relief bills, to better ensure that those who need the checks the most receive them. But they will still be one of the biggest benefits enjoyed by those who are solidly in the middle class.
Tax Credits for Parents
The relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan, includes some important changes to existing tax policy to help families with children who have been struggling to care for them as the pandemic closed schools.
The most significant change is to the child tax credit, which will be increased to up to $3,600 (for children under 6) for 2021 from $2,000 per child. The credit, which is refundable for people with low tax bills, is $3,000 per child for children ages 6 to 17.
The existing credit tops out for individuals earning more than $200,000 and couples earning more than $400,000. As with the stimulus payments, the expanded credit will phase out for individuals making more than $75,000 and married couples earning more than $150,000.
The legislation also bolsters the tax credits that parents receive to subsidize the cost of child care this year. The current credit is worth 20 percent to 35 percent of eligible expenses with a maximum value of $2,100 for two or more qualifying individuals. The stimulus bill increases that amount to $4,000 for one qualifying individual or $8,000 for two or more.
Cheaper Health Insurance
… The legislation will now make upper-middle-income Americans eligible for aid to buy plans on the government exchanges, and premiums for those plans will cost no more than 8.5 percent of an individual’s modified adjusted gross income.
Another benefit to the middle class is that the stimulus package makes it easier for newly unemployed workers to get insurance through a federal program called COBRA, which allows people to buy their former employers’ health benefits. COBRA premiums will be fully paid for through September.
A Rescue for Pensioners
One of the more controversial provisions in the legislation is the $86 billion allotted to fixing failing multiemployer pensions.
The money is a taxpayer bailout for about 185 union pension plans that are so close to collapse that without the rescue, more than a million retired truck drivers, retail clerks, builders and others could be forced to forgo retirement income. The plans cover about 10.7 million active and retired workers, many of whom are middle class and work in fields like construction or entertainment where the workers move from job to job. …
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/us/politics/biden-stimulus.html?smid=tw-share<b>With Relief Plan, Biden Takes on a New Role: Crusader for the Poor</b>On Friday, “Scranton Joe” Biden, whose five-decade political identity has been largely shaped by his appeal to union workers and blue-collar tradesmen like those from his Pennsylvania hometown, will sign into law a $1.9 trillion spending plan that includes the biggest antipoverty effort in a generation.The new role as a crusader for the poor represents an evolution for Mr. Biden …But aides say he has embraced his new role. Mr. Biden has done so in part by following progressives in his party to the left and accepting the encouragement of his inner circle to use Democratic power to make sweeping rather than incremental change. He has also been moved by the inequities in pain and suffering that the pandemic has inflicted on the poorest Americans, aides say.“We all grow,” said Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 House Democrat, whose endorsement in the primaries was crucial to Mr. Biden winning the presidency. “During the campaign, he recognized what was happening in this country, this pandemic. It is not like anything we have had in 100 years. If you are going to address Covid-19’s impact, you have to address the economic disparities that exist in this country.”A vast share of the money approved by Congress will benefit the lowest-income Americans, including tax credits and direct checks, of which nearly half will be delivered to people who are unemployed, below the poverty line or barely making enough to feed and shelter their families. Billions of dollars will be used to extend benefits for the unemployed. Child tax credits will largely benefit the poorest Americans.“Millions of people out of work through no fault of their own,” the president said moments after the relief act passed the Senate over the weekend. “I want to emphasize that: through no fault of their own. Food bank lines stretching for miles. Did any of you ever think you’d see that in America, in cities all across this country?” The president’s closest advisers insist that the far-reaching antipoverty effort — a core tenet of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party — is less of an ideological shift from Mr. Biden’s middle-class roots than it is a response to the moment he finds himself in: presiding over a historic health crisis that has vastly increased the number of poor Americans. …
If the Democrats are going to pass a minimum wage increase this year, it’s clear that they will need to get buy in from the 7 Democrats and independent Angus King who voted against including the $15 in the recent covid relief bill.
I thought it would be interesting to look at the current minimum wage in the states of these 8 legislators.
For two senators, Sinema (AZ) and King (ME), the wage is $12.15. For the two Delaware senators, Carper and Koons, the wage is $9.25. For two senators, Tester (MT) and Mancin (WV), the wage is $8.75. For the two New Hampshire senators, Hassan and Shaheen, the state minimum wage is $7.25, the same as the federal minimum.
It should be noted that the New Hampshire is somewhat of an outlier for the Northeast, compared to neighboring states. And Montana is somewhat higher than it’s immediate neighbors.
Right now, 20 states plus DC have a minimum wage of at least $10. Most states that either have no state minimum or follow the federal minimum of $7.25 are in the south.
Is there a rationale for senators from states with higher minimums to want to have the federal rate increased? That is, would a more level playing field help companies in their own state competes.
It will be interesting to see if one of these 8 Senators will take the lead on bringing forward a deal.
Xi makes Trump look like Lincoln.
“The US organisation Freedom House has released its latest report on the status of freedom in the world. In a new development, Tibet is ranked as the joint-worst place in the world for civil rights and political freedoms.
The organisation’s annual Freedom in the World report, this year titled “Democracy under Siege”, gives countries and some territories a rating out of one hundred, based on a number of categories, such as whether they have a functioning government, whether they hold free and fair elections and whether people can express their views freely and without fear of punishment.
While countries including Finland, Norway and Sweden regularly score 100/100, Tibet has for the past six years only scored 1/100, giving it the second lowest ranking every year since 2016, behind only Syria. The only exception was last year, when only Syria and South Sudan, two countries going through civil wars, were deemed to have less freedom. A small increase in both countries’ rankings has shifter Tibet to joint bottom, again with 1/ 100.
China which has ruled Tibet since its occupation of the country in 1950, again received a low grade of 11/100. Like Tibet, China was categorised as ‘Not Free’.”
https://www.freetibet.org/news-media/na/tibet-ranked-least-free-place-world
Janis Joplin – Me and Bobby McG – YouTube
Jim, I think some of those people voted against it because they knew it could not be in the law.
https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-lauds-passage-of_american-rescue-plan
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/10/us/joe-biden-news/the-house-is-set-to-send-a-1-9-trillion-coronavirus-relief-plan-to-bidens-desk
And the Trump Admin ignored the warnings. And over half a million Americans died by Chinese and Trumpian incompetence. “When they sat down with the scientists at the WIV, the American diplomats were shocked by what they heard. The Chinese researchers told them they didn’t have enough properly trained technicians to safely operate their BSL-4 lab. The Wuhan scientists were asking for more support to get the lab up to top standards…. What they were worried about was something called “gain-of-function” research, in which the virulence or transmissibility of dangerous pathogens is deliberately increased. The purpose is to help scientists predict how viruses might evolve in ways that hurt humans before it happens in nature. But by bypassing pathogens’ natural evolutionary cycles, these experiments create risks of a human-made outbreak if a lab accident were to occur. For this reason, the Obama administration issued a moratorium on gain-of-function experiments in October 2014.The Wuhan Institute of Virology had openly participated in gain-of-function research in partnership with U.S. universities and institutions. But the official told me the U.S. government had evidence that Chinese labs were performing gain-of-function research on a much larger scale than was publicly disclosed, meaning they were taking more risks in more labs than anyone outside China was aware of. This insight, in turn, fed into the lab-accident hypothesis in a new and troubling way.” https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/03/08/josh-rogin-chaos-under-heaven-wuhan-lab-book-excerpt-474322?utm_source=pocket-newtab
China’s own information shows their genocide. “China’s genocide against the Uyghurs, in 4 disturbing chartsFrom internment camps to mass sterilization, here’s why the ethnic minority’s birthrate is plunging. That’s changed. China’s persecution of the Uyghurs — a mostly Muslim ethnic minority that Beijing paints as a separatist and terrorist threat — is now well established. Several survivors have reported enduring torture in the camps. We’ve also learned that China transfers many of the detainees to factories across the country to perform forced labor. There’s evidence that this forced labor has leached into the global supply chain for products we all use, from companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon.The new report says that the Chinese government’s actions have violated “each and every act” prohibited by the UN Genocide Convention, namely: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction, forcibly transferring children to another group, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group….Although the government denied the role of forced sterilization and claimed that compliance with family planning policies is voluntary, Zenz responded that it was not very likely that “17 times more women spontaneously wanted to be sterilized.”Take a look at this chart, compiled using data from China’s Health and Hygiene Statistical Yearbooks. The y-axis shows the number of sterilizations per 100,000 people.” https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22311356/china-uyghur-birthrate-sterilization-genocide
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/us/stimulus-vote.html
Congress gave final approval on Wednesday to President Biden’s sweeping, nearly $1.9 trillion stimulus package, as Democrats acted over unified Republican opposition to push through an emergency pandemic aid plan that included a vast expansion of the country’s social safety net.By a vote of 220 to 211, the House passed the measure and cleared it for Mr. Biden’s signature, cementing one of the largest injections of federal aid since the Great Depression. Mr. Biden is expected to sign the bill Friday. All but one Democrat, Representative Jared Golden of Maine, voted in favor.It would provide another round of direct payments for many Americans, an extension of federal jobless benefits and billions of dollars to distribute coronavirus vaccines and provide relief for schools, states, tribal governments and small businesses struggling during the pandemic.The vote was the culmination of a swift push by Mr. Biden and Democrats, newly in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, to address the toll of the pandemic and begin putting in place their broader economic agenda. It includes a set of measures that is estimated to slash poverty by a third this year and potentially cut child poverty in half, including expansions of tax credits, food aid and rental and mortgage assistance. … While Republicans argued the plan, whose final cost was estimated at $1.856 trillion, was bloated and unaffordable, polls indicate that it has widespread support, with 70 percent of Americans favoring the package, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday. … “This bill represents a historic, historic victory for the American people,” Mr. Biden said at the White House following the bill’s approval, thanking Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House.Final passage came less than two months after Mr. Biden took office and about a year after cities and states across the country began to shutter to stem the spread of the coronavirus.The measure will provide $350 billion for state, local and tribal governments and $10 billion for critical state infrastructure projects; $14 billion for the distribution of a vaccine, and $130 billion to primary and secondary schools. The bill also includes $30 billion for transit agencies, $45 billion in rental, utility and mortgage assistance, and billions more for small businesses and live performance venues.It would provide another round direct payments to American taxpayers, sending checks of up to $1,400 to individuals making $80,000 or less, single parents earning $120,000 or less and couples with household income of no more than $160,000. …
New Stimulus Package Brings Big Benefits to the Middle Class
NY Times – March 11
… Here are some of the ways that bill will help the middle class.
Direct Checks
This time around, Americans will receive stimulus checks of up to $1,400 per person, including dependents.
The size of the payments are scaled down for individuals making more than $75,000 and married couples earning more than $150,000. And they are cut off for individuals making $80,000 or more and couples earning more than $160,000.
Those thresholds are lower than in the previous relief bills, to better ensure that those who need the checks the most receive them. But they will still be one of the biggest benefits enjoyed by those who are solidly in the middle class.
Tax Credits for Parents
The relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan, includes some important changes to existing tax policy to help families with children who have been struggling to care for them as the pandemic closed schools.
The most significant change is to the child tax credit, which will be increased to up to $3,600 (for children under 6) for 2021 from $2,000 per child. The credit, which is refundable for people with low tax bills, is $3,000 per child for children ages 6 to 17.
The existing credit tops out for individuals earning more than $200,000 and couples earning more than $400,000. As with the stimulus payments, the expanded credit will phase out for individuals making more than $75,000 and married couples earning more than $150,000.
The legislation also bolsters the tax credits that parents receive to subsidize the cost of child care this year. The current credit is worth 20 percent to 35 percent of eligible expenses with a maximum value of $2,100 for two or more qualifying individuals. The stimulus bill increases that amount to $4,000 for one qualifying individual or $8,000 for two or more.
Cheaper Health Insurance
… The legislation will now make upper-middle-income Americans eligible for aid to buy plans on the government exchanges, and premiums for those plans will cost no more than 8.5 percent of an individual’s modified adjusted gross income.
Another benefit to the middle class is that the stimulus package makes it easier for newly unemployed workers to get insurance through a federal program called COBRA, which allows people to buy their former employers’ health benefits. COBRA premiums will be fully paid for through September.
A Rescue for Pensioners
One of the more controversial provisions in the legislation is the $86 billion allotted to fixing failing multiemployer pensions.
The money is a taxpayer bailout for about 185 union pension plans that are so close to collapse that without the rescue, more than a million retired truck drivers, retail clerks, builders and others could be forced to forgo retirement income. The plans cover about 10.7 million active and retired workers, many of whom are middle class and work in fields like construction or entertainment where the workers move from job to job. …
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/us/politics/biden-stimulus.html?smid=tw-share<b>With Relief Plan, Biden Takes on a New Role: Crusader for the Poor</b>On Friday, “Scranton Joe” Biden, whose five-decade political identity has been largely shaped by his appeal to union workers and blue-collar tradesmen like those from his Pennsylvania hometown, will sign into law a $1.9 trillion spending plan that includes the biggest antipoverty effort in a generation.The new role as a crusader for the poor represents an evolution for Mr. Biden …But aides say he has embraced his new role. Mr. Biden has done so in part by following progressives in his party to the left and accepting the encouragement of his inner circle to use Democratic power to make sweeping rather than incremental change. He has also been moved by the inequities in pain and suffering that the pandemic has inflicted on the poorest Americans, aides say.“We all grow,” said Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 House Democrat, whose endorsement in the primaries was crucial to Mr. Biden winning the presidency. “During the campaign, he recognized what was happening in this country, this pandemic. It is not like anything we have had in 100 years. If you are going to address Covid-19’s impact, you have to address the economic disparities that exist in this country.”A vast share of the money approved by Congress will benefit the lowest-income Americans, including tax credits and direct checks, of which nearly half will be delivered to people who are unemployed, below the poverty line or barely making enough to feed and shelter their families. Billions of dollars will be used to extend benefits for the unemployed. Child tax credits will largely benefit the poorest Americans.“Millions of people out of work through no fault of their own,” the president said moments after the relief act passed the Senate over the weekend. “I want to emphasize that: through no fault of their own. Food bank lines stretching for miles. Did any of you ever think you’d see that in America, in cities all across this country?” The president’s closest advisers insist that the far-reaching antipoverty effort — a core tenet of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party — is less of an ideological shift from Mr. Biden’s middle-class roots than it is a response to the moment he finds himself in: presiding over a historic health crisis that has vastly increased the number of poor Americans. …