-Today, Senate Democrats cleared a major procedural hurdle
on their way to passing their urgent
and desperately needed Covid relief bill
with a tie breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris.
But the victory comes after moderate senators
demanded the Democrats limit the eligibility for direct payments.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
Donald Trump was bad at pretty much everything
when it came to politics.
He lost the popular vote twice, lost the House
in 2018, in the Senate this year,
got impeached twice and never cracked
50 percent job approval once.
He fell ass backward into the job
the way your burnout cousin fell ass backwards into that job
dog sitting for a rich old lady who was so senile
she started thinking he was her dead husband.
So she put him in her will.
And then, like after only a week of working for her,
she died and he inherited a fortune,
and now he just drives around town
in the back of a Rolls-Royce, screaming,
asking pedestrians if they have any Gray Poupon.
But one thing Trump was good at was taking credit mostly
for things he had nothing to do with.
He took credit for a Veterans Choice program
that was signed by President Obama in 2014,
not just once or twice.
He did it over 150 times.
And at some point, you just have to tip your hat
at his commitment to lying.
I've never been that committed to anything in my life.
I don't think I even did 150 shows at "SNL."
I mean, I was there for well over 150 shows,
but it wasn't in all of them.
For some reason, they just stopped using my John Kerry,
even though it's obviously
still relevant today now that he's climate czar.
I've been emailing Lauren suggesting that people
might want to see it again, but it keeps getting
bounced back with what I'm guessing
is an auto generated reply that says,
"Why won't you take no for an answer?"
Anyway, Trump took credit for a lot of stuff,
so much so that when the first round of Covid stimulus checks
went out last year, he insisted that they put his name on them.
That's a government check, but it looks like
it came from Trump's personal checking account,
which I doubt has any money in it,
unless it was a secret Chinese bank account.
You guys remember that?
That tiny little detail
that quickly got overlooked
but would have otherwise been a stunning bombshell twist
and an HBO prestige drama starring Nicole Kidman
as a rich lady with a kid at a fancy school.
My husband could never have done this.
Ma'am, did you know about his secret Chinese bank account?
I need to go for a walk on the beach to think about this.
Give me my billowy shawl.
Trump's one of those rich guys who's technically a billionaire,
but none of his money is liquid.
To put a quarter in a parking meter,
you'd have to sell shares in Eric.
Here's the new GameStop. Father, no!
So Americans got a direct check from Trump
with his name on it. And you know what?
If that's how Republicans are going to do things,
the Democrats should absolutely do the same thing.
Send everyone a giant game show check
that says, "From your best bud, Joe Biden."
For years centrist Democrats
have had a history of coming up with well intentioned
but super complicated, hard to understand programs
instead of just giving people things they need,
like money and health care.
Instead of saying, here's your check,
they say good news, we passed tax credits
for small businesses that retrain coal miners
to become pet therapists.
But then Democrats seem to learn their lesson.
They promised a lot of bold, easy to understand programs
during the 2020 campaign
that would improve lots of people's lives.
And when Joe Biden went to Georgia in January
for the Senate runoffs,
he made this very simple promise.
-By electing John and the reverend,
you can make an immediate difference in your own lives,
the lives of the people all across this country,
because their election
will put an end to the block in Washington
and that $2,000 stimulus check,
that money that will go out the door immediately.
-That's straight talking Joe.
No bluster, no BS.
He's the dad who says if you get straight A's,
he will take you to Dairy Queen.
And when the ink is still hot on the report card,
your elbows deep in your blizzard.
Finally, Democrats promise something big
and straight forward that will immediately materially
improve people's lives.
By the way, not only did that promise help win both
Senate seats in Georgia,
the Democrats Covid bill is incredibly popular.
76 percent of Americans,
including 60 percent of Republicans, support it.
76 percent.
You know how hard it is to get 76 percent
support for anything?
There isn't even 76 percent support
in my own family for my Al Pacino impression.
I mean, the kids love Uncle Al,
[as Pacino] but wifey is not on board.
All Democrats have to do now is have the fortitude
to stick together, pass this thing
and get the money into people's pockets ASAP.
So naturally, some moderate Democrats are watering it down
for absolutely no reason at all.
-President Biden has conceded to moderate Democrats
agreeing to narrow income limits
for the next round of stimulus checks.
-Biden signing off on an agreement
to tighten eligibility
for the stimulus checks in the package,
now phasing out checks at $80,000 for individuals,
down from $100,000 and $160,000 for couples,
down from $200,000.
-Around 12 million fewer adults and five million
fewer kids would get the stimulus payments
under the new Biden Senate compromise,
according to preliminary estimates.
A lot of those adults are voters who will now get less
in direct cash assistance from President Biden
than they did from Donald Trump.
-Democrats, what's wrong with you?
Stop behaving like your own opposition party.
Now is the time to go all in
while the GOP is distracted by Potato Head's pronouns.
Do you really want to risk being seen
as less generous than Donald Trump,
the guy who infamously had to shut down his charity
after he was accused of using it as a personal checkbook to buy,
among other things, portraits of himself and a football helmet
signed by Tim Tebow, a guy who was so bad at football
he just retired from a different sport.
What else did Trump buy with the charity money?
A curling stone signed by Johnny Manziel?
Seriously, Democrats, who's asking for this?
Do you think there's a group of people out there
who don't want a check.
Everyone wants a check.
That's why there are eight million game shows,
including one where you can win money
just by hailing a cab. And true story, guys.
I hailed a cab last night for the first time in a year.
It was the best. Driver was blasting music.
I was watching "Taxi TV," saw a "30 Rock" clip,
emailed Tina Fey to say how funny it was.
Windows down, cold air blasted in.
When we arrived, it just strolled right out
because in my head it was an Uber.
Driver started screaming, "Hey, hey, hey."
I figured he finally recognized me with my mask on.
So I turn around, I shoot him a thumbs up,
only to see that he is very angry.
I apologetically get back in the cab to pay
and stay to watch the weather on "Taxi TV."
New York is back, baby.
I mean, it's not, but it's getting closer and that's good.
Anyway, the point is, this is insane.
It's political malpractice.
The bill does lots of good stuff.
It's super popular
and it gives money to people who need and deserve it.
Why would you make fewer people eligible?
And by the way, taking checks away from 17 million people
were reportedly only save about $12 billion
out of a $1.9 trillion bill.
That's .6 percent. Congrats, Moderates.
You really proved your fiscal bona fides.
What's next? You can increase the cost of a tasty cake
from a vending machine by 25 cents.
You really think anyone you're taking a check away from
is going to vote for you because you're saving
$12 billion?
Well, honey, we won't get a check,
but at least they brought the cost of the bill
down from $1.9 trillion
to $1.888 trillion.
What are the main drivers of this push
has been West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.
Manchin has been critical of the direct payments
from the beginning, despite the fact
that they're all overwhelmingly popular in polls
among voters of every political stripe.
In January, he told reporters, "I don't ever remember
FDR recommending sending a damn penny to a human being.
We gave 'em a job and gave 'em a paycheck.
Yeah. Jesus criminy, can't we start
some infrastructure program
to help people, get 'em back on their feet?
Do we have to keep sending checks out?"
Okay, first of all, why are you talking like a character
in a Frank Capra film? Jesus criminy?
You trying to save the old building and loan.
Hey, Shoemaker. Should I do my Jimmy Stewart?
Okay, well... Okay, you're waving your arms.
It is very unclear what you're trying to say.
Does this mean no?
Okay. Well, fine then.
Just stop moving around.
You'll give me vertigo.
[Laughter]
Also., do you remember that FDR literally signed
the Social Security bill into law?
Did you have a substitute
for that entire year in history class?
Listen, I'm just a field hockey coach,
so all I know is there was a civil war
and then Nixon was laughing.
Now we're going to spend the rest of the class
watching "Amadeus" on laserdisc.
[ Blows ]
Centrist Democrats are also backing off
a $15 minimum wage,
which has the support of two thirds of Americans in polls.
The minimum wage hike was originally included in the bill,
but ruled ineligible by the Senate parliamentarian
for reasons that are too stupid to explain.
Basically, the gist is Democrats have to use a process
called budget reconciliation
to pass the bill with only 50 votes
because the Joe Manchins of the world
won't just nuke the filibuster, which they should.
The reconciliation process doesn't allow
for so-called extraneous items, and the person who gets to rule
What's extraneous is the Senate parliamentarian,
who advised last week that the minimum wage
was not allowed under the rules.
And hey, whatever you think of the Senate parliamentarian,
whoever they are, they were elected
and elections have consequences.
What's that, Shoemaker.
You're waving your hands again.
Was the Senate parliamentarian not elected?
Okay, it's just confusing because you're using
the same waving motion you used to tell me
I shouldn't do my Jimmy Stewart impression.
Oh, help me out, Shoemaker, you old so and so.
Well, if it ain't Jimmy Stewart.
Al Pacino?
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
What serendipitous.
Anyway, the parliamentarian is in fact an unelected bureaucrats
who basically just offer us an advisory opinion.
Republicans fired the parliamentarian in 2001
when they disagreed with the parliamentarian's ruling,
and no one cared.
Democrats had the same power to do the same thing now,
or they could just ignore and overrule the parliamentarian.
That's what Senate Budget Chairman
Bernie Sanders wants to do.
-The idea that we have a parliamentarian
who was elected by nobody, who was simply a Senate staffer
making a determination that 30 million Americans
are not going to get a pay raise is to me unacceptable.
So we're going to win this, if not this week,
in the near future.
-They'll be separate legislation
if it's not included in this legislation.
Is that what you're saying?
-I am saying that we are not going to give up.
This is not going to be the last vote on minimum wage.
Trust me on that.
We're sticking with 15 bucks an hour,
and I believe we're going to pass that.
-Yeah, people can't make a living at $7.25
-You're right. -They are in poverty
if they're working 40 hours and only making $7.25.
That's way, way too low,
and it's been like that, as we point out, since 2009.
-Wow, the minimum wage hike is so popular
even Wolf Blitzer is on board.
Wolf Blitzer, the man never reveals what he thinks.
His wedding vows where it will be
very interesting to see what happens going forward.
He's an enigma.
He doesn't even make facial expressions.
The Wolf Blitzer emoji is just a circle with nothing in it.
And it's true, it is cruel and absurd,
to one, tell people they can live
in 2021 on $7.25 hour, and two,
let an unelected bureaucrat no one's ever heard of decide
whether millions of Americans get a raise.
And by the way, do you know
how hard it must be for Bernie Sanders
to ignore someone whose title is parliamentarian?
Bernie is the guy who gets annoyed
when other people don't follow the rules.
I bet he tells people at the co-op to stop
squeezing the melons.
You get one squeeze and that's it.
They all came in on the same truck.
Just pick a melon and be done with it.
We have a lot of people here for melons.
And the current parliamentarian has reportedly issued
other controversial rulings
and what can be passed under special budgetary rules.
She ruled in 2017
that Republicans could add provisions
to the Tax Cut and Jobs Act
to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to Alaska oil drilling.
Why is oil drilling in the Arctic allowed
but not a minimum wage hike?
Trying to make heads or tails of archaic Senate rules
is like trying to put together a shelf from IKEA.
I don't understand. It's just an outline of a man
with an arrow pointing down
and a question mark next to his head.
Above it, it says klipphangare.
Wait, that's not a klipphangare.
This is a klipphangare.
Sorry, people on YouTube.
Sometimes we call back things
that aren't in the body of "A Closer Look."
This is a whole show.
But don't tell me how to say bubar.
[ Laughter ]
Democrats need to pull out all the stops to pass this thing
because Republicans are already making clear
they're going to pull out all the stops to block it.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, for example,
announced that he'd forced the Senate clerks
to read the entire bill aloud on the floor,
a formality which is usually bypassed
as a stonewalling tactic.
-The first way I'm going to resist
is I'm going to go down and object
to the waiving of the reading of the bill.
I will make them read their 600 to 700 page bill.
I'm going to lead the effort to resistance
starting today, I think,
when they introduce a substitute amendment.
I'm going to make them read that thing.
Probably take about 10 hours.
-You really think that's going to be a deterrent?
We've all been in quarantine for a year.
I've done things that are a lot less exciting
than listening to a bill get read aloud for 10 hours.
One time I just laid down on the floor with a bottle of gin
and tried to guess how many layers of paint
there were on the ceiling.
Turns out the ceiling's wood. I was just super drunk.
And my kids left me there.
Seriously, people desperately need help immediately,
and you're playing dumb procedural games
to stop them from getting it.
And just to give you an idea
of how dumb Johnson's objections are,
yesterday he took the floor of the Senate
with a ludicrous poster
to complain about how much money was in the bill.
-If you stacked million dollar bills on top of each other,
there would be -- they would stack up to be
358 feet high.
So, how big would a stack of a billion dollar bills be?
It'd be 67.86 miles.
So a stack of a billion dollars would actually exceed
the atmosphere and extend into outer space.
Well, how big would a stack be of trillion dollar bills?
Well, it's a thousand times that,
so it'd be 670,866 miles high.
We're talking about $1.9 trillion,
which would stack up to 135,732 miles high.
Madam President, the distance to the moon
is 238,900 miles.
So that stack of $1.9 trillion worth of one dollar bills
would be more than halfway to the moon.
-Okay, Senator Snapple cap.
Save it for your sci-fi movie, "Money Stairs to Moon Town."
Seriously, who cares?
Also, where did you get that dumb poster made?
Did you actually force a staffer to go to Kinko's?
So, what's this for? A sixth grade math project?
No, it's for a congressman.
There's a sixth-grader in Congress?
No, He's an adult.
Oh. Is it Ron Johnson?
Yeah.
Democrats have lots of bold agenda items
that could immediately help lots of people
and fix our broken political system,
from the urgent voting reforms in the For the People Act
the House passed yesterday to the Covid relief bill,
but they need to stiffen their spines,
stop watering things down and steamroll GOP obstructionists
because Republicans are so crazy, they're...
-More than halfway to the moon.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
God's Love We Deliver cooks
and brings over two million meals a year
to men, women and children living with HIV, AIDS,
cancer and other serious illnesses,
and they need your help now more than ever.
If you're watching this online, you can hit the donate button.
Stay safe, wear a mask, get vaccinated. We love you.