Most Mississippians are aware of the heroic role that the late Republican Mississippi U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran played in 2005 in literally saving Mississippi and the rest of Gulf Coast by wrestling a $29 billion Hurricane Katrina relief package from his reluctant Capitol Hill colleagues.
Cochran had assumed the powerful chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee just eight months prior to the arrival of the storm known as “the greatest natural disaster in American history. The quiet, courtly Cochran used that position to get federal assistance that the Gulf South – and particularly Mississippi – desperately needed.
But fewer Mississippians are yet aware of the pivotal role that Republican Mississippi U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Tupelo played in getting the historic $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed last week. Wicker succeeded Cochran as Mississippi’s senior U.S. senator upon Cochran’s retirement in 2018.
As Cochran’s chairmanship put him in a key position of help Mississippians and the rest of Gulf South after Katrina, Wicker was named chairman of the influential Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in January 2019. The committee has jurisdiction over key components of the U.S. economy including transportation by land, sea and air; telecommunications and the internet; and other endeavors touched by the Constitution’s “commerce clause.”
As Senate Commerce chairman and as a key player in the overall Senate leadership, Wicker chaired a GOP task force assigned the thorny task of negotiating and writing a responsible relief package for the U.S. airline industry as part of the broader CARES Act – that package ultimately provided $50 billion to assist the airlines and another $8 billion for the air cargo industry.
“The global coronavirus pandemic requires strong and decisive action from the federal government,” Wicker said. “During this time of unprecedented economic uncertainty, it is critical that air carriers and other impacted industries have the resources they need to continue operations. This recovery package would support the hard-hit workers and businesses who bear no responsibility for this crisis.”
Unlike Cochran’s efforts after Katrina, there were no Mississippi-specific earmarks or set-asides. Mississippians get the same benefits as citizens in Maine or California. But the CARES Act addressed specific and virtually comprehensive sectors of both the U.S. and Mississippi economies, including agriculture, hospitals, clinics, telehealth, colleges and universities, elementary and secondary education, state and local governments, manufacturing, transportation, small businesses, people on unemployment insurance, medical devices, drugs, and testing.
Wicker expressed pride in the way Congress is extending aid to the airlines: “One of our best accomplishments was making sure the taxpayers would be paid back once the economy is back on track. Airlines and other major companies will eventually be on a sound financial footing. The loans will be secured and repaid. “
Earlier in March, Congress and the White House provided $8 billion to assist medical workers, develop COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, and to expand and expedite testing. Mississippi has already received a $5.8 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for use in the virus battle.
Then on March 18, the Senate passed legislation requiring paid leave for workers who have contracted the coronavirus and for parents who are forced to miss work to care for their children. The bill also provides free coronavirus testing for all Americans.
Mississippians will receive checks of up to $1,200 for low and middle-income individuals and up to $2,400 for married couples and joint filers who meet certain salary requirements, with an additional $500 for each child in direct financial assistance. In the poorest state in the union, that will represent a significant amount of infusion into the state’s economy.
It is significant that when the largest economic relief package in U.S. history was written, Mississippi had a seat at the relatively small negotiating table in the form of Roger Wicker.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
Sid Salter: Wicker Played Key Role in CARES Act
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18 comments:
Sid actually thinks this rotten pork is a good thing?
The buyback enriched C-Suite says thanks and lesson learned.
By all means, let's give a big cheer for an elected official doing what we elected him to do.
It’s interesting to see the extreme right take such a u turn and endorse socialism like this. Just 2 weeks ago they were trying to associate it to communist China and Cuba and now they are praising the government bailouts and sending out checks. Wild times!
Always keep in mind that for decades Sid Salter looked the other way while people he personally knew broke the laws of this nation and state by employing illegal alien labor.
salter talks about wicker like he is some kind of santa clause. mississippi has a long history of powerful senators such as stennis and eastland and they brought home the federal welfare millions as well. this is nothing new. but the irony is that despite the billions in federal money pipelined in here, mississippi is still, and always will be, a 3nd world backwater. tell me mr. salter....if wicker is so brilliant , how is it he got scammed by lamar adams?
While, this bill was a necessity, I fear the loopholes and opportunities for corruption are rife.
Contrasted with the measures taken by other democracies and republics, it has a rather glaring weight given to Wall Street and large corporations and banks rather than Mom and Pops and the average citizen.
The money for those out of work, will have more impact in MS where the cost of living and income is lower, but not so much in large cities where the bulk of our population resides.
This is The McConnell bill/the Senate bill with very little from the Democrats.
The sentences to limit fed money to only those corporations in need isn't very good. And, a corporation that was making obscene profits and paying obscene salaries will be restored to obscenity.
I'm also not OK with a gift to businesses that were losing money before the virus and after being in business for years.
I wish there would have been a restoration to $0 loss and loss could not include salaries over $500000 a year.
I was fine with restoration to $0 loss.
We have a " rainy day" savings. It's raining. We are good. I don't want corporations that have huge funds for a rainy day to get my tax dollars. Glad to help my fellow Americans who couldn't put aside enough to weather the storm.
Try to remember the above when politicians start shifting blame for that which went poorly. Go to the Congressional Record. Don't believe a politician. Already, they are hoping you can't keep straight " who said and did what when".
Hint: When you are given a " timeline" and there are not specific, dates and times of when the " what" was done or said that YOU can check, be suspicious.
What's the point of fighting socialism, if every time there's a bump in the road you immediately turn to socialism? While spending billions in bonuses for c-suite and record stock buy backs, the airlines were locked in a stalemate with flight attendants as they cut benefits and salaries.
Yet when things turned south, the airlines immediately sent their lobbyists to Washington to beg for government money.
We have bankruptcy laws for a reason.
9:46, I'm sure in your world where you can make-up whatever bedtime story that you like, the 'facts' in your post makes sense.
Your claim that this was the "McConnell bill" and that little was put in by the Democrats doesn't even get close to the smell test.
The McConnell bill was a ONE trillion dollar bill. The Democrats more than doubled that and turned it into a $2.25 trillion.
Evidently your math skills are shaded by those partisan eyeshades you are wearing.
"Federal assistance," "grants," and "stimulus checks" are BRIBING THE SHEEPLE WITH THEIR OWN MONEY!
It's a negative ROI, people.
Oh, and if you cash those stimulus checks, TRUMP IS YOUR PRESIDENT.
How many anti-Trumpers are going to shred those checks, or donate the money to charity? Crickets...
Oh good for the hospitals getting money. This does nothing for physician groups in Jackson. They get nothing except to walk the dog in eastover. All elective cases cancelled. No money. No work. No pay. The physicians make to much to get the federal stimulus check. Thanks wicker. Tell your family in belhaven hello for us.
The stimulus checks are a preview of things to come. When the robotic revolution moves in to full speed, there will be a need for many to be paid to sit at home. Then the really hard questions must be answered. Which humans are deemed worthy to live, and which shall die. This is no movie plot I set forth. This is what the human race can look forward to. I am afraid the almighty dollar will decide the fate of many, even as it does, to some extent, now.
@11:12 Last time I checked, none of the relief/stimulus checks are coming from Trump’s personal account. They are coming from the US Treasury to which you and I contribute taxes to support.
@12:04
You will always need labor to build the robots as well as to repair and program those. Look at Germany. The robots don't operate on there own. Look at robotic surgery. Operated by a human. Stop being ridiculous
Get used to it boys, everyone knows Nancy is in Charge. McConnell and Trump just get to rubber stamp it.
1155, as one of the few groups of people in Mississippi who actually make enough to save for an emergency such as this, I don't think you're going to get much sympathy from this crowd. If you spent your money foolishly, that's on you.
9:53am In my world, you read the legislation. You also ask experts if you have questions. You apparently rely on pitiful attempts at insults since you cringe when insulted. Hint: find the best available sources either the least bias, ask questions of those who can give correct answers and then tell the truth. If you did that, you’d know insults are petty.
Your bankruptcy response is meaningless as the bill addresses bankruptcy . And you obviously don’t know how .
@12:49, you haven't had a glimpse of what the futurist envision for us, have you my friend? You should lift your eyes, open your mind. Unless some global calamity occurs, you will not recognize your world in 50 years. Every task that now requires human involvement will be performed by machines. That includes the design, building, and maintenance of those same machines. With true artificial intelligence, it won't be just the menial task that are performed. Unless, a different kind of leadership is chosen, not only in this country, but world wide, the human race will be woefully unprepared for this. You can say ridiculous all you want, but that will not change the future. A writer in the Christian Bible said, according to God, that man would do all that he imagined. So far that has been true. I don't see why it should stop now. What will become of mankind when this happens? Shouldn't our best and brightest be addressing this jobless future? What will keep the masses entertained? Has someone decided to eliminate much of the populace? I feel certain I will have exited this life by that time. Where will that leave you?
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