Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) evidently told colleagues in the Senate that he opposes universal paid sick time because he thinks workers would pretend to be sick in order to go on hunting trips – despite the fact that the country just hit a tragic milestone of 800,000 deaths due to COVID-19.
The news comes just after Manchin announced on “Fox News Sunday” that he is officially killing the Democrats’ reconciliation bill, which includes a proposal for universal paid sick leave along with critical provisions to expand the social safety net, lower prescription drug costs and address the climate crisis. Manchin is blocking this bill despite having an enormously large hand in shaping it. He negotiated with his Democratic colleagues for months and then stonewalled them over the legislation.
Manchin has complained publicly about the cost of the reconciliation bill. his private gripesThese are targeted at the working and poor Americans. Huffpost reported.
Manchin has expressed his opposition previously to implementing universal paid leaveYou can argue that such measures should be subject to a work requirement by the government. But, by definition, to have paid leave from work, one must have a job.
The U.S. is the only wealthy country in the world that doesn’t guarantee its workers paid family and medical leave. Research has shown that 25 percent have the lowest salaries in private industry. over half aren’t even allowed unpaid sick leave; among the workers paid within the lowest 10 percent of wages, 70 percent don’t have unpaid sick leave. This causes some workers to be sick at work, which could spread the illness to their coworkers.
Even before the pandemic, it would be absurd to believe that workers don’t deserve paid sick leave because of the possibility that they may fake illness to get time off. For decades, conservatives have argued against every form of government assistance by claiming that a small portion of people may use the assistance for non-authorized reasons – but in reality, the benefits of these programs far outweigh the supposed negative impact of fraud.
For instance, the food stamp program helps feed tens of millions of peopleAll across the country. Fraud happens so infrequently that it’s nearly completely negligible, evidence-based criticisms of the programSay that the program isn’t large enough.
Manchin’s statement is especially cruel in the midst of a pandemic that is currently killing an average of nearly 1,300 Americans a day.COVID is on the rise partially because many frontline workers don’t have the option to stay home even if they contract the virus – meaning that conditions are rapidly worsening just as people are gathering for the holidays.
According to HuffPostManchin also complained that Congress might extend the child tax credit. This measure has not been approved. lifted millions of kids out of povertySince its implementation. The lawmaker’s opposition to expanding the credit is based on his belief that poor families may spend the money on what he considers the wrong things; in other words, Manchin believes that he knows more about the needs of families who have been struggling to survive since the pandemic than the families themselves.
Meanwhile, the Senate just began winter recess this weekend and won’t reconvene until January 6, leaving Manchin – who is worth an estimated $7.6 million – with nearly three weeks of paid leave to do He can do whatever he likes.
