Media lies about "$900 Billion Stimulus" bill: Hanania

COVID Relief bill or stocking stuffer for congressional favorites?

By Ray Hanania

It’s called the “COVID-19 Relief Bill”, or unofficially the $900 Billion Stimulus bill, and it is 5,593 pages long. The title is impressive. $900 Billions! That is a lot of money.

And when you read the news media reports, it almost sounds like someone finally put the interests of the American people first.

The news media is writing that the bill, thanks to the Democrats, will put money into the pockets of those people who have been dramatically impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Individuals who made less than $75,000 last year, before the Coronavirus pandemic struck, will get $600. The amount goes down for those between $75,000 and $99,000. Nothing goes to those who made more than $99,000, even though people who made $99,000 or more last year are as out of work as everyone else.

Also, the $900 Billion Stimulus bill will provide an additional $300 a week for those collecting unemployment benefits.

But the reality is far different. The COVID-19 relief is attached to all kinds of other spending. They are pushing for ONE VOTE to pass it all, one package, and one collection of spending.

The 5,593 page bill, which you can read here www.Hanania.com,
totals $1.4 trillion and includes more than $800 billion in additional funding.
The $900 billion for COVID-19 relief is really only about $150 billion --
the rest goes to special interest politically wrapped-up in your health concerns

When you read through the 5,593 pages of the single legislation that will be voted on, that was introduced only days before Congress sought a fast vote, you quickly realize that this is all just a bunch of BS. The vast majority of the money in the “Stimulus” bill actually goes to projects that have nothing directly to do with, you quickly realize this isn’t a $900 Billion stimulus package at all. (Congress now describes it as actually totaling $1.4 trillion).

The vast majority of the money goes to things unrelated to the American public suffering because of the coronavirus which originated in a military laboratory in Wuhan, China in late 2019.

The truth that the news media and the Left are suppressing is that the majority of the money in this package vote goes to things completely unrelated to COVID-19.

If $900 million were going to help the American people, every one of the 330 million Americans of every age would receive $2,727. A family of four – every family – would receive nearly $11,000. That, by the way includes every business owner and employee of every business big and small.

That would be a real stimulus bill.

So where is the bulk of the money going?

Some of the money, $250 billion, is going to help big business, some of it going to support small business programs.

The biggest benefactors are places that the average American will never visit, like the Kennedy Center, which will receive $26.4 million. Not only is it unlikely that you will ever go to a Kennedy Center event, but you wouldn’t be able to afford the dress our tuxedo to attend a Kennedy Center event.

The Smithsonian will get $1 billion. The National Art Gallery will get $154 million. The National Art & Humanities will get $167 million and the Wilson Center will bet $14 million.

Some $15 billion is going to help the entertainment venues mostly on Broadway. Another $7 billion is going to expand broadband access.

Israel, which already gets more than $5 billion a year in loans including President Obama’s 10-year annual $3.8 billion in military aid package, will get $500 million. Egypt will get $1.3 billion. Sudan, which was only just removed from the Terrorism-watch list after it agreed to normalize relations with Israel, will get $700 million. The Ukraine gets $453 million. Nepal gets $130 million. Myanmar (Burma) will get $135 million Cambodia will get $85 million. Pakistan will get $25 million.

The Asia RIA, which few people know anything about, will get $1.4 billion. What is the Asia RIA? It gives money to the poor in 149 countries, rich and poor.

The list goes on and on to the tune of more than $825 billion going to special interest “pork barrel” recipients and projects favored by the Democrats in Congress who introduced and wrote the package.

The media barely lists any of these recipients, only those that rise up to the public debate. And President Trump, who is being crucified by the media for threatening to block the “$900 Billion Stimulus” bill, is not smart enough to organize a strong public relations campaign to educate the public.

Trump has does everything wrong, shooting from the hip with emotion and selfish self-serving bluster, and screaming on Twitter , a social media he has attacked and yet patronizes with his blather. In fact, Trump’s failed media is the reason why he is a one-term president, not stolen votes.

But that’s all a distraction that the media wants you to focus on. They want you to argue about Israel. They want you to argue about Trump. They want you to keep describing the stimulus package as the $900 Billion Stimulus” package.

What they don’t want you to do is talk about the worthlessness of this stimulus package to the people who need it the most.

If this were really a $900 Billion Stimulus package, every American – from new born babies to the oldest among us, would receive $2,727.

That’s almost five times what only a small segment of the population is getting.

And every family – which averages four people in America – would get about $11,000.

Now that’s a real stimulus.

Every effort to make these points has been attacked by the news media, biased talking heads on Good Morning America and other TV programs, and by the robber barons who own Social Media, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Social media posts “warnings” every time Trump or anyone challenges the stimulus package that their claims – their opinions, the essence of free societies – are exaggerations, false or “taken out of context.”

What they are hiding behind is that all of the special interests want those funds and they could be justified, if addressed separately.

You want to give the Kennedy Center $26.4 million? Give it to them, in a separate bill so that the public can ask why they need the money?

But Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer and all of the lying talking heads like California Congresswoman Katie Porter who lied through her teeth this morning on “The View” without even a challenge about what Trump is doing and was silent about what she and her colleagues are doing.

They want you to focus on Trump and blame him for everything, so they can deflect – distract you from the real issue about where $825 billion of the $900 Billion Stimulus package is really going. They don’t want to talk about the “fat” that has been “hidden” into the bill.

As I write this, Facebook Published a lying misleading Label on top of my post that reads “Missing Context: The Same information was checked in another post by independent fact-checkers.”

“Independent Fact Checkers”??? What a true lie! There is nothing “independent” about Facebook’s and social media’s efforts to attack Trump and defend the Left.

We're not even allowed to debate the issue or hold the sponsors of the bill accountable.

Facebook is relying on a website called “Lead Stories” which lies about facts all the time. They exaggerate and twist information because they support the Left. And they don’t permit a public free speech discussion about their lies and exaggerations when they post. Click here to read the "so-called "Fact Checker."

Social media is using that to twist and distort facts so they can push back against anyone who challenges the wasteful spending in the bill.

Do the math people. There are 209 million adults over the age of 18 in America. About 85 percent of them make less than $100,000. Give them each $600 and you total only $106 billion.

The remainder that the news media, social media like Facebook, Twitter and others don’t want you to know is that the rest of the “$900 Billion Stimulus Package” is going to their friends, cronies and their pals.

(Ray Hanania is a former Chicago City Hall reporter. His columns on mainstream American politics appear in the Southwest News Newspaper Group and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. His Middle East Op-Ed columns appear in the Arab News newspaper at ArabNews.com. For more information visit www.Hanania.com.)