More On:
chuck schumer
Schumer apologizes for using ‘retarded’ to describe disabled children
Biden’s options for his agenda are quickly boiling down to ‘punt’
Senate passes bill meant to boost tech industry, counter China
Chuck Schumer crashes Memorial Day party in Brooklyn
Oops: Sen. Chuck Schumer’s much-hyped rescue of Broadway is turning out to be stuck in rehearsals.
The Senate majority leader got $16 billion for it in Democrats’ January relief bill, but the payments didn’t start flowing in May as promised.
The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant was supposed to provide checks for 45 percent of a venue’s gross income in 2019 as what Schumer described on Twitter as “EMERGENCY SURVIVAL” help.
But the application system failed at launch, so you couldn’t even apply until April. And actually qualifying has proved tougher still.
A spokeswoman for the Broadway League said none of its members (producers and theater owners) has reported getting OK’d. And some are finding it hard to convince the feds they’re even alive.
The New York Times reported multiple denials to owners like Michael Swier of the Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge — who all somehow wound up as Do Not Pay because their names show on the federal Death Master File.
That’s a pretty grim sign of Uncle Sam’s ability to get funds to any of the many people Team Biden wants to help. Add in the Axios report that criminals may have stolen up to half of all unemployment benefits over the past year, and Democrats’ dream of running endless direct-assistance plans looks more like a nightmare.
Share this article:
Source: Read Full Article
