COVID19 Update - Day 138

US Tests: 51,491,494*

US Cases: 4,220,054*

US Deaths: 139,250*

Worldwide Cases: 16,196,314*

Worldwide Deaths: 647,846

* - Numbers are a lower bound.  True numbers are being suppressed by the Trump administration

If you remember nothing else that I write on this site, you need to remember that Republicans are awful, and should never have a place in government ever again:

Democrats put forward their stimulus plan earlier in the year, with the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passing the $3 trillion HEROES Act in May, but Republicans have struggled to answer it with legislation of their own, failing to share their plan as promised last week.

Passing the bill — which will involve striking a deal with Democrats — is a deeply urgent matter for Congress. Unemployment benefits are set to expire after July 31, a federal eviction moratorium imposed by the previous stimulus bill, the CARES Act, expired last week, and the Senate breaks for August recess on August 7.

But Mnuchin suggested Sunday that a compromise is imminent, saying on Fox News Sunday that “the [Trump] administration and the Senate Republicans are completely on the same page” now — a development that seemed far off as recently as last week, when the White House and Republican lawmakers fought fiercely over the provisions that should make it into the aid package.

Mnuchin said those provisions include something that has long been a GOP priority: Ending expanded insurance aid, which currently provides the unemployed with an additional $600 per week on top of their state unemployment payments, and which Democrats favor maintaining as a policy. In the Republican package, the program will be replaced by “something which pays people about 70 percent wage replacement, which I think is a very fair level,” Mnuchin said. He added that would amount to cutting the additional payment down to roughly $200 a week.

Mnuchin also said the GOP will be including liability protections for businesses, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has advocated for, meant to protect businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits that could come from customers and employees.

Let's review those past two paragraphs: Republicans believe it's necessary to impose a 66% reduction in insurance aid for the 40 million Americans out of work due to the virus, because they believe it's important that people have an incentive to work, rather than collect unemployment.

Meanwhile, they are completely unconcerned about the incentives created by giving businesses immunity for anything they might do which threatens the health of their employees and customers.