U.S. Senator Doug Jones with his wife Louise along with Rep. John Lewis on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala.: Twitter

By Glynn Wilson –
Editor and Publisher –

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The biased, right-wing conservative Republican fake news site Yellowhammer, considered the Breitbart News of Alabama, is lying about what’s going on in Washington again, slamming U.S. Senator Doug Jones with two weeks to go before the election simply for standing up for “the people” against Republican Mitch McConnell.

The Senate Majority Leader’s latest attempt to play politics with people’s lives by refusing to negotiate in good faith with Democrats and the White House for a reasonable coronavirus relief bill is obscured by this so-called news reporting, when the facts are Jones has been trying for months to help move a bi-partsan package through the Senate, efforts blocked at every turn by McConnell and President Donald Trump.

While talking about being supportive of a relief bill with a direct stimulus payment to Americans before the election like the one issued in the spring, so far Trump’s contribution has been nothing but tweets. McConnell has made it clear he doesn’t want a bill to pass before the election, since his conservative caucus is against more government spending while the economy is limping along and the stock market is not crashing.

While Jones, the Democrat from Birmingham, did join Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and his fellow caucus members in voting to filibuster a targeted COVID-19 relief bill that included some money for unemployment insurance benefits, small business relief and funds for urgent health care needs, the bill was inadequate on several fronts and contained no direct stimulus payment. McConnell also tried to bring up a bill introduced by Republican Senator Tom Tillis of North Carolina to supposedly protect people insured under the Affordable Care Act from being denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition.

While House Majority Leader Nanci Pelosi is still in negotiations with the White House and extended the deadline for passing a stimulus bill before the election past Tuesday, the Senate legislation failed to receive the 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture, so it could not be advanced to a full vote. But it would not have been approved by the House or signed by the president anyway.

“He did vote against both of those bills,” according to Jones’ Senate press secretary Caroline Stonecipher when I asked a direct question about what Yellowhammer was reporting. “But they were show votes meant to create these negative headlines for Democrats.

“The COVID bill was the exact same McConnell plan that we voted on over a month ago that Republicans and Democrats rejected on a bipartisan basis because it doesn’t provide sufficient funding for state and local governments, education, COVID testing, etc.,” she added. “It also contains several poison pills related to liability and education.”

The pre-existing condition coverage bill was a provision introduced by Tillis, who has tested positive for the coronavirus and faces a tough reelection battle for his seat, “to give Republicans coverage to say that they want to protect pre-existing conditions — when in fact the GOP caucus and the Trump Administration are advocating to overturn Obamacare and pre-existing condition protections completely.”

A case to do just that will be considered by the United States Supreme Court just a few days after the election.

Jones explains his position here.

Yellowhammer claims the $500 billion Senate bill included more funds for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was estimated to have supported 700,000 jobs in Alabama and covered 82 percent of the state’s small business payroll as of June 30, but again, the House bill being negotiated with the White House is now at $2 trillion, and includes direct stimulus payments of $1,200 to every American. McConnell’s bill, which would never have passed the House or been approved by the president, contained nothing.

Yellowhammer erroneously claims that McConnell’s failed bill would have provided $105 billion to students, $16 billion for coronavirus testing, $31 billion for vaccine development, $20 billion in farm assistance, $15 billion for childcare and $10 billion to the United States Postal Service. But again, nothing for taxpayers and Social Security recipients.

Senator Richard Shelby, the Republican from Tuscaloosa who has literally been all but invisible since the coronavirus hit back in March, came out in support of McConnell, parroting the same partisan tripe. He said the measure would have aided American families and businesses suffering from the pandemic. After voting in favor of invoking cloture, Shelby just lied.

Senator Richard Shelby: Glynn Wilson

“Democrats’ all-or-nothing approach continues to hurt American families and small businesses. Both parties agree that more funding is needed for PPP, unemployment insurance, schools, testing, and vaccines,” Shelby said. “This package would have provided hundreds of billions of dollars for these critical priorities. Yet Democrats stood in the way, once again, because it did not include their partisan demands. Families and businesses are struggling. This senseless gridlock must stop for their sake. They deserve better.”

So stop the partisan gridlock, Senator, and get onboard with Jones in a bipartisan negotiation with the House and White House in a process that would actually help the American people who are still hurting — before the election Nov. 3.