great political strategy by the Dems to save $100 B on a $1.9 T bill by directly taking it out of the pockets of middle class voters (shrinking check eligibility from $100k to $80k) ... who needed the suburbs in the midterms anyway

bummed about the unemployment bump no longer being increased to $400 a week, but first $10k tax free is tasty.

The key thing about this (and the minimum wage vote) is that none of these changes (or failures) are creditable to Republican efforts.

With Republicans in full obstruction mode and Democrats controlling both chambers and the White House, there is neither opportunity nor need to woo Republican votes. This is all just Democrats acting like a coalition is supposed to act: not always agreeing with each other, negotiating between disparate factions, finding compromises.

The end result is messier than when a party is in full lockstep...nobody is ever fully happy with the results, everybody comes away with grievances, and sometimes the best actions are stepped back because of one group's over-influence. But the fact that Democrats have done this much negotiating and adjusting for a signature legislation in spite of being the ONLY player at the table is one reason why I'm skeptical of a "Progressive/Moderate Civil War" ever amounting to much. There's nothing they like more than to talk each other down from the ledge of fulfilling promises.

and on that note Manchin apparently opposes extended unemployment insurance or something and is about to fuck the whole thing up

That seems like a ready-made "how it started, how it's going" meme.

The girls in those photos look way too young to be thinking about pregnancy.

West Virginia

The phase-out rate for stimulus checks in excess of $75k (single) / $150k (joint) is so aggressive, they might as well have just capped it and said to hell with it. They are gonna piss a larger number of people off with this than they realize. '$2000 checks' was the mantra - they still had an uphill battle to explain $1400 to people' - and on top of it they've now cut out 'wealthy' american families with children making $160k+ per year, and families making $150k+ a year are gonna receive a disappointing check (relative to campaign promises) ... midterm turnout is usually low already - and there won't be an orange man to vote against. they are setting themselves up well for a midterm election where people just stay home. why vote for them if they are gonna win and then shrink their own checks? fuck that. The Dems better pray it's not a bad weather day that day.

all for the sake of placating an optional GOP congress request (not GOP voter) that no one is gonna remember or assign any value to 3 months from now

Trump is gonna turn around and say 'I gave more people checks - I wanted bigger checks - the Dems said they did but then didnt deliver them'

and he's gonna be right

Honestly, this went like 10 times better than I expected it to go. I thought they’d talk themselves into much bigger rollbacks.

Yea, F U, numbers-up!

give me my money i need to go on lavish dates

steak n shake is all i need

is that your stripper name

One of the most underrated fast food joints in the country

Better than the place that sells chili over spaghetti noodles?

I was at WalMart doing regular grocery shopping, but I lingered over those Stimmy TV displays they have up.

Use your stimulus and splurge a little. Spoil yourself and go to the Stop & Shop