Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio 13th District) said on Friday that the $1 trillion stimulus package currently being negotiated by lawmakers won't be nearly enough to make Americans whole again.
"Quite frankly I think the package that we're seeing coming out of Washington, DC is not even close to meeting the big need that we have," Ryan told Cheddar. "I think we need to be talking more like $2 trillion than $1 trillion, and at least a trillion for the workers."
The former Democratic primary candidate also advocated for bolstering unemployment insurance to ensure that people are making the same amount they did before their jobs.
"These are really essential things to keep the workforce safe, so when we go to kickstart things back up again, they're ready to slide back into the jobs that they lost," he said. "We need to be thinking much, much bigger and in much more innovative ways."
One important thing to keep in mind about this economic crisis, Ryan added, is that federal investment, in this case, won't grow the economy but merely keep it solvent, which may be difficult to swallow for those seeking a return on their investment for any kind of stimulus.
"This isn't like the Great Depression where you put money in people's pockets and then they go out and buy stuff," he said. "Now you're giving people money and basically saying pay your rent, pay your mortgage, pay your auto loan, and then buy food because you can't go anywhere."
The representative also believes the current package is skewed toward companies rather than workers and doesn't want to bail out companies without specific conditions banning stock buybacks or corporate bonuses.
"This is revealing the kind of corruption and rotting of the supply-side economic theory," he said. "The same people that just got the huge tax cuts are coming to the taxpayer to ask us to bail them out. So they get all the profits, and then they socialize the losses."
A new report by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China warns that press freedom in the most populous country in the world is declining at an alarming speed. Cheddar News speaks with Steven Butler, Asia Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, about the hardships journalists face in China.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C. 1st District) joined Cheddar to discuss her cannabis legalization bill, the States Reform Act, and the prospects for gaining bipartisan support for a bill that has garnered the endorsement of e-commerce giant Amazon. This legislation is supported by businesses large and small, Amazon obviously being the most recent and largest business to support it," Mace said. "They don't want to sell pot. But what it does do is it affects their working employment pool." She stated that 10 percent of eligible new hires for Amazon are affected by restrictive marijuana laws. The representative also explained that the bill leaves equity provisions up to the states rather than mandating them on a federal level.
After a number of tragic subway incidents, the MTA is facing increased pressure to install subway platform screens to help prevent injury or death. However, according to an earlier report from the MTA, installing these prevented measures isn't feasible. New York City Council Member Keith Powers, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Across the country, states are working to redraw their congressional lines in what is often known as gerrymandering. These news lines are expected to determine the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans within the next decade. Senior Counsel for the Brennan Center's Democracy Program, Michael Li, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
The state of California is officially planning to close its death row in the next two years. That state's governor Democrat Gavin Newsom says the plan is now to move all condemned inmates to other prisons and turn it into, as he calls it, a positive healing environment. Former U. S. Assistant Attorney and Legal Analyst, David Katz, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Anthony Saccaro, Founder and President of Providence Financial, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he elaborates on why he is excited that the market is beginning to rebound and believes February has the potential to be a good month after a turbulent January.
Cryptocurrency is expected to become a part of our daily lives — but what sort of environmental impact does it have? As the U.S. becomes the crypto mining capital of the world, climate advocates are worried about mining companies reopening old coal plants, using massive amounts of energy, wasteful hardware, and more. Congressional Democrats led by Senator Elizabeth Warren are demanding answers from mining firms about their electricity use and waste levels. John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna Computing, joins Cheddar Climate to discuss the congressional letters, how crypto mining can become a green industry, and more.
The Supreme Court will reconsider race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The court will examine admissions policies at Harvard University and The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, which count the race of applicants as a factor in admissions. The court has upheld affirmative action policies in the past, saying it helps to create more diverse student bodies. However, the conservative Supreme Court could be skeptical and even possibly hostile to such policies. Nick Anderson, Higher Education Writer, Washington Post joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
