Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA) is just finishing up her first term in the House of Representatives, but the freshman representative is already well-established on Capitol Hill.
Porter is known across the country for her tactics during meetings of the House Financial Services Committee, where her sensible yet relentless line of questioning often forces everyone from billionaire CEOs to high-level pharmaceutical executives to acknowledge the economic hardships faced by their employees.
Now, with nearly 300 thousand Americans dead and millions more unemployed in the wake of the pandemic, Americans across the country are calling on Congress to sign a significant stimulus bill to keep them afloat. The Democratic-led House has passed multiple stimulus bills, but they've collected dust on the desk of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
McConnell's has refused to consider any bill that doesn't offer broad liability protections for companies whose employees contract the virus while at work due to insufficient safety measures. Democrats are unwilling to consider these protections, believing they prioritize profit over the safety of workers.
In a recent Twitter thread, Porter detailed McConnell's various tactics for kneecapping pandemic relief legislation in an eye-opening Twitter thread.
When I came to Congress, I knew I had a responsibility to pull back the curtain for the American people and expose corruption in real time. So, I'm filling you in on Senator McConnell's attempts over the last 8 days to tank a *bipartisan* COVID relief bill. (THREAD)
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) December 9, 2020
You may have heard that Democrats and Republicans have agreed upon spending $900 billion to fund another round of small business loans, support hospitals and essential workers, and help the 10 million people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. (2/5)
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) December 9, 2020
Everyone at the negotiating table—including Senate Rs—has agreed to a compromise. Except one. Mitch McConnell is refusing to bring it to the floor unless it wipes away all COVID-related lawsuits filed that “allege injury or death" due to corporate negligence. (3/5)
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) December 9, 2020
These lawsuits represent the worst of the worst examples of disregard for human life—cases filed on behalf of nursing home patients and grocery store workers who died because the company in charge of keeping them safe prioritized cutting costs over protecting them. (4/5)
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) December 9, 2020
The same McConnell who said that President Trump is “100% within his rights" to pursue baseless lawsuits alleging election fraud is now refusing to pass urgently-needed relief unless it strips those same rights from the most vulnerable among us. This must be exposed. (5/5)
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) December 9, 2020
Porter skewered McConnell for his insistence on liability protections for businesses at the expense of the workers their negligence harmed.
People agreed that McConnell's priorities were severely deranged.
They thanked Porter for her rebuke of the Majority Leader.
Next month, Porter will begin her second term in the House of Representatives.
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