In the wee hours of Saturday morning, the House of Representatives passed an emergency funding bill in light of the growing coronavirus pandemic. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was quick to celebrate its passage by claiming that affected workers would now be provided with paid sick leave. However, what she did not mention is that this would not apply to the vast majority of American workers. "Big employers like McDonald's and Amazon are not required to provide any paid sick leave," the editorial board for The New York Times explains, "while companies with fewer than 50 employees can seek hardship exemptions from the Trump administration." As a result, only 20% of workers would be guaranteed paid time off from work. Given this, why would the speaker not fight to include paid sick leave for these workers in the final bill?
Well, throughout, this election cycle, Pelosi's campaign has received funding from the lobbying/law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, whose PAC has donated $1,000 to the speaker. Why does this matter? Well, the PAC has received several significant contributions from 11 McDonald's lobbyists -- William E. Moschella ($4,994), Alfred Mottur ($4,994), Jerome Murray ($4,994), Zachary Pfister ($4,994), Russell Sullivan ($4,994), Geoff Burr ($4,578), Marc Lampkin ($4,576), Greta Joynes ($2,800), Brian McKeon ($2,700), David Reid ($2,700), and Harold Hancock ($2,080). Additionally, Pelosi has taken $5,000 in PAC money each from Amazon and the National Association of Broadcasters, the latter of which has received donations from Amazon lobbyists Paul Brathwaite ($500) and Whitaker Askew ($250).
Given the money Speaker Pelosi has received from McDonald's and Amazon, both directly and indirectly, it should come as no surprise that she would not fight for paid sick leave for their workers who are suffering from the coronavirus. At a time when the country is going through a pandemic, and many people are panicking and afraid to miss work due to fear of missing a paycheck, it is absolutely reprehensible that our politicians are looking out for the needs of large corporations instead of workers suffering in such a difficult time.
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