Ditch Mitch!

About five months after Kentucky reported its first loss of life from covid-19, its economy continues to sputter amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many unemployed workers say their benefit checks aren’t enough to afford their bills, and some here simply have stopped looking for jobs. Businesses say they’re also hemorrhaging cash, and local governments fear they’re on the precipice of financial ruin, too.

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[A recent] labor protest [at McConnell's Louisville office] marked only the latest in a series of exasperated complaints from Kentuckians directed at McConnell (R), as some locals find themselves frustrated by the absence of their powerful political representative on Capitol Hill.

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The parade of cars honked incessantly as they crawled past the federal courthouse on West Broadway, their message clear to anyone who bothered to steal a glance at their signs outside.

“Mitch better have my money.”

The Kentucky representatives from the AFL-CIO, Teamsters and other labor groups had grown incensed with Mitch McConnell, their home state senator and the chamber’s most powerful lawmaker. For months, they said, he had been blocking much-needed congressional coronavirus aid, the kind of dollars that might help workers and businesses in the Bluegrass State struggling to survive financially.

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In more than two dozen interviews, out-of-work residents, struggling restaurant owners and other business leaders, as well as a cadre of annoyed food, housing and labor rights groups, all said they are in dire need of more support from Congress — the likes of which McConnell has not been able to provide.

  WaPo

Oh, he's been able. He's not been willing.

The economic tumult in Kentucky is vast, and it has added new urgency to the political standoff on Capitol Hill, where the prospect of a prolonged deadlock could worsen the financial woes in a state that was hurting long before the pandemic arrived.

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The country’s economic unraveling — the worst in a generation — has spared no community from severe hardship. But in a state like Kentucky, where some communities already had been grappling with joblessness, poverty and stagnation, the coronavirus often has made matters worse. About half of all adult residents have seen some reduction in their employment income. Meanwhile, about a quarter of a million residents say they do not get enough food to eat, and nearly one-third of households are struggling to pay their rents and mortgages, federal data show.

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In the face of those financial difficulties, many Kentucky residents had counted on enhanced unemployment payments that offered them an additional $600 in weekly support.

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Local economists said federal stimulus programs have brought $120 million a week into Kentucky, sustaining not only the people who receive the checks, but also the shops, restaurants and businesses that otherwise aren’t likely to see any commercial activity. But a chorus of Republicans, including McConnell, have argued that the $600 weekly aid payments were so high that they deter people from returning to work.

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Instead, the GOP proposal calls for a smaller sum, starting at about $200 a week.

Totally out of touch with his constituents.

The dissatisfaction comes as McConnell, already the longest serving Senate Republican leader in history, seeks re-election to a seventh term. His democratic opponent, Amy McGrath, has sought to use the pandemic against him, but McConnell is not considered at risk of losing his seat.

Why the fuck not? What in god's name are Kentuckians expecting to happen if they keep putting him back in office? Are they demented? I'm having a hard time believing he's not at risk.

He has repeatedly framed the election in terms of whether Kentucky voters want to keep a congressional leader or take an inexperienced newcomer without the same clout.

What damned good is clout if he doesn't use it for his constituents?

“As the only congressional leader not from New York or California, Sen. McConnell puts the needs of Kentucky first while Senate Democrats continue to hold another rescue package hostage,” said Katharine Cooksey, a spokeswoman for his campaign.

Do Kentuckians believe that shit?

The number of active participants in the labor force has fallen by about 5 percent since February, recent federal indicators show. In other words, fewer people in Kentucky are seeking new jobs, evincing a sense of resignation among workers in the middle of a public health crisis.

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[A] chorus of advocates recently urged McConnell and his staff in meetings to expand a low-income program known as SNAP to pay more benefits to workers, complementing other coronavirus aid programs. They see the food-stamp benefits as a critical economic lifeline, helping not only families, but the grocery stores, farmers and other supply-chain companies that rely on those dollars.

But the barrage of outreach, as recently as last week, has not immediately yielded much help for Kentucky’s poorest, as the GOP leader’s proposal eschewed a major boost to SNAP or other federal safety-net programs that help people in need afford food.

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A coalition of housing advocates had taken similar pleas to McConnell in recent weeks, seeking support particularly for renters in a state where eviction protections are far from guaranteed. Approximately 200,000 households in Kentucky are at risk of losing their homes in the next four months, said Adrienne Bush, the executive director of the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky, but she fretted that her group’s entreaties failed to result in much support from the GOP leader.

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McConnell’s proposal [...] includes long-sought liability protections for businesses wary that they may be sued if workers contract the virus. The idea is highly contested by Democrats, but it has won him favor among corporate leaders, including those in Kentucky, who had lobbied aggressively for a legal shield that might help them reopen without worry.

But corporate leaders aren't going hungry or in danger of losing their homes.

If Kentuckians are too stupid to ditch Mitch in November, I'm going to have a hard time feeling any sympathy.

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.