Biden’s recovery plan will return jobs
President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan requires all 50 Democratic senators and Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote to pass with a simple majority. The House already passed a resolution supporting the plan.
However, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia will only agree to vote for it if the Byrd Rule is honored. Named after the late Sen. Robert Byrd, of West Virginia, the rule restricts what can be included in reconciliation in the Senate. Because Manchinviews the $15 minimumwage requirement in the plan as a violation of the rule, he would not be able to support the plan. Sen. Bernie Sanders is fighting to keep this provision in the bill.
The federal minimum wage now is $7.25 per hour. It has not been increased in 12 years. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, increasing it to $15 could cost more than
1.4 million jobs, but it could also deliver raises for up to 27 million workers and lift 900,000 out of poverty.
Several private companies, such as Amazon, have already raised their minimum wage $15 per hour.
To satisfy Manchin’s concern, perhaps dropping the minimum-wage increase provision is a good idea.
There are many remaining provisions of the bill that are extremely beneficial, including the $1,400 stimulus payment to most Americans making under $75,000, and extending unemployment insurance another five months beyond its mid-March expiration. The total plan could create several million jobs by the end of this year, and recover up to almost half the jobs lost in this past year alone.
Is it not worth dropping one questionable provision, when the remaining ones will help significantly many Americans recover from this disaster?
– Kenneth Karger,
Kendall
GRIM MILESTONE
We have reached 500,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States, with more to come. It did not have to be this way but for the insanity of former President Trump to declare the virus just another flu and cajole our great nation into a false sense of wellbeing without implementing protective medical action. This makes Trump an accomplice to murder.
I don’t have the funds to pursue legal action, but a class-action lawsuit should be initiated. He should be appropriately charged and prosecuted.
– Peter P. Baljet,
Kendall
Tuesday is the first day NFL teams can place the franchise and transition tags on players and in so doing protect their rights to those pending free agents.
And Tuesday might not exactly offer a flurry of activity because teams actually have until March 9 to decide whether to use their tags.
But what is more likely to happen is teams will begin to press harder to get their best and brightest stars signed to long-term contracts to avoid using those tags — all of which go on the salary cap in a one-year lump sum when used.
So, make no mistake, teams realize the two-week tag window is a milestone and it means free agency is around the corner. Free agency begins March 15 with the legal negotiating window during which teams can talk to representatives for pending free agents on other teams. Official signings can begin with the new league year starting March 17.
And, you’re asking, what does all this mean tangibly for the Miami Dolphins?
Let me burst a couple of bubbles of joy for you to start off:
The Dolphins have no player they’re going to employ a franchise tag on. The team’s unrestricted free agents are Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Breida, DeAndre Washington, Julien Davenport, Ted Karras, Davon Godchaux, Vince Biegel, Kamu Grugier-Hill, Elandon Roberts, Kavon Frazier and Matt Haack.
And the club has not indicated to any agent representing those players that it has designs on using the franchise tag on their clients.
(The club, on the other hand, has told many of those agents not to share
information with reporters, but that’s another story for another day).
Anyway, it’s not just about the team telling agents its intentions. The fact is none of those players is at a level that would warrant a franchise tag.
That’s generally bad news because it means the Dolphins don’t have so many talented players that the supply has outstripped the team’s ability to sign them all.
The other bit of sad-face news coming your way?
NFL teams generally are not excited to give up on great players. So they work really, really hard to keep them under contract. Or they use the franchise tag on them.
And that’s terrible for the fanbases of not-so-great teams that want to see their clubs improve by adding those players. Like the Dolphins.
Dolphins fans want their team to add several free agents to improve the roster and the team’s chances of making the playoffs.
And, obviously, receiver is a key spot of interest.
That’s why Dolphins sites have focused on Miami possibly signing Tampa Bay receiver Chris Godwin if he becomes a free agent.
And they’ve focused on Miami possibly signing Chicago’s Allen Robinson if he becomes a free agent.
But neither, unfortunately, is likely to actually reach unfettered free agency.
Tampa Bay has designs on re-signing Godwin, according to an NFL source, and Chicago is also hopeful of retaining Robinson. And if, in the extreme, long-term deals are not reached in the next couple of weeks, both teams are likely to use the franchise tag on those players.
So the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers intend to use upward of $15 million to tag Godwin if no deal is signed soon. And the
Bears, which used the franchise tag on Robinson in 2020, are expecting they’ll sign Robinson and if not, he’ll be tagged again at
around $18 million.
Great, so how about Detroit’s Kenny Golladay? He played only five games in 2020 because of injuries and the Lions need to make several moves to get under the the expected $180 million to $185 million salary cap.
So it seems Golladay might be a logical candidate for Miami to chase once free agency starts. Except the Lions have four other receivers also headed to free agency, so they’re not simply going to let the entire receiver room walk
away.
They’re going to try to keep their best guy.
That’s perhaps the reason NFL.com reported Monday that Golladay is expected to be tagged if the team cannot strike a longterm deal. In other words, he’s unlikely to get away.
One Lions receiver who would like to join the Dolphins is Marvin Jones Jr. He caught 76 passes for
978 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020 and is looking to play for a team he sees as an emerging contender. So keep that name in mind.
And now understand this: All these players are franchise tag candidates for a reason. They’re very good. But because of that, they are very expensive.
The tag numbers for such players are often considered the negotiating floor by their agents.
And with $26 million to $29 million in expected salary cap space (barring restructures or cap-clearing cuts) the Dolphins are unlikely to orbit that stratosphere for multiple players.
It’s also hard to imagine them trading for one of those players and then paying him, thus using both draft and cap resources to add one player.
So it’s going to require some strange circumstance for the Dolphins get any of the fun, big-play receivers whose names you just read are franchise tag candidates.
Rookie guard Saben Lee scored a career-best 21 points, Josh Jackson added 18 and the Detroit Pistons snapped a three-game losing streak with a 105-93 win over the host Orlando Magic on Tuesday night.
Detroit, which has an NBA-worst road record of 3-14, won for the first time since Feb. 14. Outplayed throughout a 105-96 loss to the Magic on Sunday, the Pistons raced to a 15point first-quarter lead, dominated the third quarter and rode balanced scoring the rest of the way for the victory.
Lee, a rookie out of Vanderbilt on a two-way contract, was pressed into duty because of Delon Wright’s groin injury. Strong on Sunday with 12 points, five assists and three steals,
Lee scored 13 points in nthe first half Tuesday, keying the Pistons' strong start. He made all three of his three-pointers and added four assists.
Detroit’s ninth victory of the season ended Orlando’s
three-game winning streak and put a damper on Magic center Nikola Vucevic’s selection as a reserve for the NBA All-Star Game. Just two nights after battering the undersized Pistons for 37 points and 13 rebounds, Vucevic finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.
Cavaliers 112, Hawks ●
111: Lamar Stevens drove for an easy dunk with 4.1 seconds left and Atlanta failed to get off a final shot as host Cleveland ended its 10-game losing streak — the NBA's longest this season.
After Atlanta's Trae Young, snubbed as an All-Star reserve earlier in the day, missed a runner with 11 seconds left, the Cavs pushed the ball up trailing by one. Collin Sexton passed it on the left wing to Stevens, who had a clear path to a dunk.
It was Cleveland's first win since Feb. 1.
Sexton scored 29 points, Darius Garland 17 and Jarrett Allen had 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavs.