The United States Congress continues its partisanship during the coronavirus epidemic. Recently, House Democrats approved another coronavirus relief bill. H.R. 6800, named The HEROES Act, is a $3 trillion bill that includes many leftist priorities. For example, there is a mail-in voting provision that does not require any voter ID. Democrats claim that this method is needed to prevent people from getting sick, but the liberal site ProPublica admitted mail-in ballots were highly susceptible to fraud. The HEROES Act also includes provisions to help illegal immigrants. Illegals who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number(ITIN) could receive the full $1,200 stimulus check. Illegal immigrants who work essential jobs would be shielded from deportation, and employers would be able to bypass the law against hiring them.
Acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Ken Cucinelli: “These pages of the proposed bill create a deferred action program for aliens based on the CISA essential workforce list. Granting both deferred action and employment authorization. The aliens wouldn’t even have to apply for an EAD or deferred action, they get it automatically.”
Along with the relief bill, Republicans are concerned with the recent House Resolution H.Res.965.
This resolution allows for remote voting in the House, and also proxy voting in which one House member can vote on behalf of ten other members. Republicans criticized the resolution as deeply partisan and unconstitutional. Liz Cheney said: “House Democrats are risking damage to our constitutional republic by adopting a proxy voting scheme along partisan lines. Our founders intended that Congress convene and deliberate. The Constitution requires a majority of members be present to constitute a quorum to conduct business,” and “In times of national emergency, changes in House operations may be necessary, but those changes should never be the subject of heavy-handed partisan maneuvering in blatant disregard of constitutional imperative, precedent and the rights of the minority.” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said, “Our Founders would be ashamed that we aren’t assembling. A virtual Congress would be a Congress that is connected to the Internet, but disconnected from the American people.” McCarthy also mentioned how Democrats would be making Nancy Pelosi more powerful by making her a proxy.
With practically no chance of passing the U.S. Senate, the HEROES Act appears to be a cudgel Democrats can use against Republicans. The pandemic is a deeply troubling issue for many people, so the Democrats could claim Republicans do not care about suffering Americans when they inevitably reject the Democrat bill. It is ironic that when Republicans tried to pass a relief bill with few conservative priorities, the Democrats originally shot it down.
