 So if you are an average consumer of political news and you're finding it difficult to keep up with Negotiations regarding the economic stimulus package. Let me give you a little piece of advice All you have to do is look to what Mitch McConnell says and does because he is the ultimate gauge as to whether or not Something is going to live or die because if he says, uh, yeah, I like this. Let's pass it Let's vote on it. It's gonna pass and if he does not do that then it's going to go nowhere This is what happens all the time when Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump had agreed to a particular stimulus relief package this last time when Wolf Blitzer and her blew up and had that really heated exchange Ultimately it was Mitch McConnell who shot both Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi down Mitch McConnell is the one who unilaterally killed That round of negotiations So now whether or not this 908 billion dollar package that's currently being discussed is even going to have a chance will come down to what Mitch McConnell wants and There is a chance that this one will pass because Mitch McConnell wants a corporate liability shield and since he wants that well if that is included in this proposal then he may allow a vote on it and Katie Porter took the Twitter to point out how corrupt Mitch McConnell is and now he's holding economic stimulus hostage Unless he gets what he wants for his corporate donors. So she states 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 eight days to tank a bipartisan Covid relief bill 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 Everyone at the negotiation table including Senate Republicans 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 alleged injury or death due to corporate negligence 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 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. So it's very simple here What she's basically saying is that if Mitch McConnell doesn't get what he wants which is a corporate liability shield This is not going to pass it all comes down to Mitch McConnell Now she went on television to talk further about this and really explain how disgusting what Mitch McConnell is doing is Inactuality and he alone is holding up relief for millions of Americans who desperately need it right now What we're dealing with here is somebody who is trying to put the Imaginary need of big corporate donors ahead of the very real need of the American people and you hear this in Senator McConnell's own words. He says well, there might be an epidemic of lawsuits But let's be clear that is not currently a problem There's only a handful of COVID liability lawsuits in the country In fact tort lawsuits are down this year as compared to last year But there is an epidemic of in this country is hunger is homelessness housing insecurity and that's what we need to be focusing on right now Let's talk about what is going to expire if a relief bill doesn't happen in the next few days There's pandemic emergency unemployment Compensation pandemic unemployment assistant paid leave protection renter eviction moratorium Horm for home foreclosure and eviction moratorium student loan Deferment penalty free retirement withdrawal unspent COVID relief funds use of PPP funds Employee retention credit employee payroll tax deferral suspended Medicaid sequester cuts Airline and national security loans. That is a lot of things that affects a lot of Americans When you're looking at all that is that is out there that is on the line I'm wondering where's the urgency in Congress. Why do we keep hearing talking and talking and talking and not? Voting why don't we see a bill come to the floor yet? Well, look any Democrats have voted the house has voted we voted back in June or July for the heroes package And we've continued to want to negotiate And we've stayed in session and tried to reach a compromise and I want to be clear Many Republicans are willing to compromise many Senate Republicans are willing to compromise This isn't about the dollar figure of relief We all understand that we could do a little bit less now and do the rest to come This is about Senator McConnell holding out Trying to basically give a license to kill to big corporations that engage in reckless behavior to endanger Workers and employees and Americans. So we all Republicans and Democrats agree There's a there's a potential to move forward here to continue those programs if he will drop this ridiculous And I think corrupt attempt to try to put these imaginary needs of big corporations Ahead of the needs of the American people which are very very real and as you point out are extremely urgent You've been in Congress a few years now So I'm wondering if you have any insight for why we are in the situation We're in we're asking people to stay at home because they don't want we don't want the virus to spread But we're giving people no Ability to stay home and to maintain their livelihoods don't work But we're not going to help you even though you're not working This is not happening in Europe in Europe They're making sure that people do have the ability to stay home. Why are we functionally this way? Why can't we support people in the middle of a crisis? Well for me, I think this really boils down to a question about who do representatives in government answer to we have a Campaign finance system unlike anything seen in Europe. So the idea that the interests of businesses Our big corporations would come in front of the interests and needs of the American people And it is unfathomable in most countries in this world, but so is our campaign finance system That's why I don't take corporate PAC money It's why I don't take contributions from lobbyists because I think I'm supposed to work on behalf of the American people And that means making sure that we have a strong healthy economy Which means giving Americans disaster relief payments so they can put food on the table So they can keep a roof over their head during this time and be ready to go back to work when it's safe to do so So I've got to say that Katie Porter is quickly becoming one of my favorite members of Congress And I'm really glad that she made that point about why we're so different, you know when compared to other developed countries It's because we have a completely broken campaign finance system where we've basically legalized bribery in this country so because Mitch McConnell's only Initiative in Congress and as Senate majority leader is to look out for his corporate donors You know, he can use his power as majority leader to shut down any negotiation that doesn't deliver enough To corporate America and it's really disgusting and I feel like He doesn't get enough backlash for everything that he does or doesn't do like not allowing votes to come to the floor of the Senate I mean he really is shutting down America Unilaterally not allowing bills to pass and it's easy to you know Look at Nancy Pelosi and the way that she always fumbles when it comes to negotiating with Republicans and you know when you see Donald Trump say he supports something in Nancy Pelosi echoed the same sentiment and it doesn't get passed You can you know chalk that up to incompetence, but at the end of the day Nine times out of ten Mitch McConnell is the lowest common denominator He's the one who single-handedly kills these talks now, you know, it's funny because We always have to go through this if we're talking about legislation that will help the American people But if it comes to a giveaway to corporate America or expanding the defense budget that always passes easily and It's because as you know, Katie Porter explained our broken campaign finance system Makes it so that way we're in this state of affairs where corporate America is always being represented But the American people are being left aside It's disgusting and you know Bernie Sanders made the same point in an interview with MSNBC and He he really does a great job at shedding light on just how broken our system is The question now is whether or not Mitch McConnell is gonna turn his back as your report Just indicated on the incredible suffering that the American people the working people on our experience of unemployment a height We have a record level of hunger in America millions of people are facing evictions. This is an emergency Congress has got to respond aggressively to help working families, you know Stephanie I always get a kick here in Washington when we go to war There's endless amounts of money tax breaks for billionaires endless amounts of money Corporate welfare endless amounts of money when children are going hungry in America today Suddenly we don't have enough money. That's crap. That's wrong And if we have got to stay here throughout Christmas, which is the last thing in the world that I would want to do We're gonna stay here because we are gonna make sure they're struggling working families in this country get the help They desperately need Senator I'm not agreeing with you Fundamentally, but I want to talk to you practically you've been the lead sponsor of 422 bills during your 30 years in Congress But only seven of them have become law given that record and how dire things are as you just laid out Do you need to find another lane or take a different approach here? I? Don't think that's the issue Stephanie. I mean you can ask me how many other Senators have passed significant legislation in recent years Question is you could name post offices and so forth and so on some of the legislation that I've worked on the veterans bill for example Has been very significant in passing, but the issue right now is Is the United States Congress gonna stand up for working people or not? And I am doing my best to rally not only Democrats, but Republicans as well now as you may know the proposal that came out of the White House just yesterday talks not about $1,200 per person, but 600 that's unacceptable And by the way they want to do away with all extended unemployment benefits And that is also unacceptable as your report your very excellent report indicated all over the world Countries are responding to the pain their working families are experiencing. We have got to do the same this terrible terrible pandemic is showing the American people is How far behind we are of the countries around the world and taking care of our children taking care of the Unemployed taking care of the elderly taking care of the sick with a richest country in the history of the world 92 million people today are uninsured or underinsured That is beyond belief that is why in my view We've got to move to Medicare for all single-payer to guarantee health care to all people and that last point is Absolutely spot-on it really took this pandemic to expose Just how broken our government is the response has been comparable to what we'd expect from a failed state We got what a one-time Payment of $1,200 back in March and here we are in December And we don't even know if this latest round of negotiations for a stimulus will go anywhere Is it even going to bear any fruit? We have no idea. It depends on what King Mitch McConnell wants It's just It's morally reprehensible like I want people to see That if your government isn't looking out for you when we are facing an eviction Crisis and societal collapse as a result of this pandemic if they're not looking out for you now when you need it the most Do you ever expect them to look out for you when there's no pandemic if they won't even do it now? I mean they are failing the most basic expectations of governments So people have got to start paying attention and acknowledge the fact that you Don't have health care in a pandemic the fact that anyone is going homeless during a pandemic. This is a failure on government It's not a failure on you. It's a failure on Governments now. I've got a point out since we watched the clip Stephanie really just randomly decided to attack Bernie Sanders You've sponsored 422 bills, but only seven have become law So apparently that's supposed to speak to Bernie Sanders in ability to get anything He wants codified into law But doesn't that say more about the incompetence of Congress than anything? Like you're literally having a conversation with Bernie Sanders about how you know, it's really difficult to reach a Comparise and you know, we don't know if this latest round of stimulus talks is going to pass And if it does pass it will it actually be sufficient and include another $1,200 direct cash payment But yet you you blame Bernie Sanders who's actually pushing for the right thing. I mean these folks are just hacks You're bringing him on the program to discuss how broken Congress is how broken our government is and yet you're blaming him for things that he supports not getting passed It's not like Bernie Sanders is uniquely incompetent. No our fucking entire form of governance is broken So why would you go out of your way to prepare that hacky attack on him when you know what's going on? At least I hope you know what's going on, but I'm assuming that you realize what's going on You know the other day Stephanie really had a really enlightening segment where she talked about her diagnosis with COVID-19 And how basically the way that her and her husband responded was they just stayed home Her kids were asymptomatic, but her and her husband had it and they stayed home until it passed But she said, you know, a lot of people can't do that. They're not financially secure enough to stay home So you know that that's a failure of government. You made this point So why would you point to Bernie Sanders? One of the few people in Congress standing up for the American people and make it seem as if he's the one who's incompetent when you know What's happening so I mean, I don't want to go too off-track here because you know This ultimately is about stimulus negotiations, but that just irritated me but I mean look at the end of the day Mitch McConnell is the lowest common denominator and Whether or not we see another round of stimulus payments direct cash payments This will come down to whether or not Mitch McConnell gets what he wants