1/11
The House of Reps approving $2000 relief checks rather than $600 dollars. That’s a big deal. $2000 checks could ease the pain just long enough for millions of Americans to remember this is the good our government can do in moments like these. #velshi

2/11
The bipartisan bill was met by Mitch McConnell at the front door of the senate with the words "The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats' rich friends who don't need the help.” #velshi
3/11
The bipartisan bill for $2,000 checks was met by Mitch McConnell at the front door of the senate with the words, "The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats' rich friends who don't need the help.” #velshi
4/11
What is, indeed, “rich” is Mitch McConnell - estimated to be around the 9th wealthiest person in congress - and who makes $193,000/yr, talking about people’s “rich friends”.
#velshi
5/11
If you add $2,000 to the $1,200 checks that went out in March, that’s $3200 over 9 months. $11.85/day. Nobody’s getting rich off of that. #velshi
6/11
The cost of the relief bill, as it stands, with the $600 relief checks, totals $900 billion dollars. Increasing the checks to $2000 dollars would cost an additional $464 billion. That would be a total of $1.36 trillion dollars in relief. #velshi
7/11
$1.3 Trillion IS a lot of money. But it’s a lot less than the $2.3 trillion-dollar cost of the Trump tax cuts that Mitch McConnell quickly jumped on-board with and benefitted far fewer people in need. #velshi
8/11
The Trump tax cuts, which mostly benefited corporations and the rich, had overwhelming GOP support in the Senate. This Democratic bill to increase payments to $2k won’t get a vote in the Republican controlled senate, which McConnell brags is where bills go to die. #velshi
9/11
When you’re as wealthy as Mitch McConnell - estimated to be worth more than $35M - you can’t know what it’s like to choose between paying the electric bill or buying food. #velshi
10/11
When you’re THAT wealthy you forget that having to spend extra money each month on things like masks and sanitizer, is not for many Americans, “extra money.” #velshi
11/11
The median net worth of Congress members is just over $1M. We’re not expecting miracles, but a little basic empathy would help. For many workers and small businesses there’s no “extra money”, no deep well from which to keep paying rent and buying groceries. #velshi

More from Ali Velshi

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The Government is making the same mistakes as it did in the first wave. Except with knowledge.

A thread.


The Government's strategy at the beginning of the pandemic was to 'cocoon' the vulnerable (e.g. those in care homes). This was a 'herd immunity' strategy. This interview is from


This strategy failed. It is impossible to 'cocoon' the vulnerable, as Covid is passed from younger people to older, more vulnerable people.

We can see this playing out through heatmaps. e.g. these heatmaps from the second


The Government then decided to change its strategy to 'preventing a second wave that overwhelms the NHS'. This was announced on 8 June in Parliament.

This is not the same as 'preventing a second wave'.

https://t.co/DPWiJbCKRm


The Academy of Medical Scientists published a report on 14 July 'Preparing for a Challenging Winter' commissioned by the Chief Scientific Adviser that set out what needed to be done in order to prevent a catastrophe over the winter

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