A Democratic Congress and a Democratic President just combined to pass a massive $1.9 trillion spending bill sold as a solution to the economic woes caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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A Democratic Congress and a Democratic President just combined to pass a massive $1.9 trillion spending bill sold as a solution to the economic woes caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to a compliant media, they had an easy job of it: Instead of scrutinizing the bill’s spending choices, the broadcast networks built their coverage around its most popular provision as well as sympathetic anecdotes about those in need.
From the day President Biden unveiled his plan (January 22) through the final day of Senate debate (March 5), the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts discussed the “American Rescue Plan” in a total of 68 stories, which combined for 69 minutes, 27 seconds of airtime. ABC’s
Washington scrambles to avoid mass evictions as moratorium nears end
Tenants and landlords both favor more rent assistance, but some want lawmakers to go further. By David Kroman, Crosscut
Share: Arianna Laureano outside of her boyfriend’s Seattle home on Feb. 3, 2021. Laureano has been relying on Washington’s eviction moratorium, which is set to end on March 31. (Dorothy Edwards/Crosscut)
For every month since evictions were banned in Washington last March, tenants in the state accrued somewhere around $100 million in owed rent. By that estimate which comes from the state Department of Commerce renters here could now be over $1 billion in debt, a sum that grows each week.
by Kshama Sawant • Jan 22, 2021 at 9:30 am
People need the time to catch up on back rent. ABLOKHIN / GETTYIMAGES.COM
A tsunami of evictions will hit Seattle in the coming year without bold action by the Seattle City Council. Tens of thousands of evictions, disproportionately in communities of color, will likely overwhelm the courts, shelters, and streets, as people lose their homes. This would be a human catastrophe on a scale that the city hasn’t seen in a century, on top of the unprecedented economic costs that our city would be forced to bear for shelters, emergency housing/food, healthcare emergencies, and public safety crises.