Response of Portman, GOP to COVID-19 harms Americans
As of Wednesday, no Republicans in Congress had voiced approval of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan. They all appear to be in line to vote against passage.
That followed by one day a Washington Post op-ed in which Ohio Sen. Rob Portman decried Senate Democrats proceeding under reconciliation, which requires a simple majority for passage instead of 60 votes and would prevent Republican senators from blocking passage.
The congressional Republicans largely remained silent in the midst of former President Donald Trump’s wretched COVID-19 response. More than 500,000 Americans have perished largely because Trump failed to take measures which common sense and common decency deemed necessary to combat the virus. Instead, Trump took measures he deemed politically expedient and which allowed the virus to flourish.
The grim result, that the U.S. has 20% of the world’s pandemic deaths and only 4% of the world’s population, stands in stark contrast to America’s greatness.
Portman’s maneuver clearly is insidious. Acting as spokesperson for congressional Republicans who remained silent in the past while a staggering number of Americans died needlessly, Portman is demanding that the Republicans now be given a voice they will use to derail relief which Americans urgently need.
John E. Reinier Sr., Columbus
After a pandemic-fueled boom, U.S. pizza sales appear to be headed back to earth.
The Domino’s and Papa John’s pizza chains both said Thursday that their same-store sales lost steam in the fourth quarter compared with the huge increases they saw earlier in 2020. Same-store sales are expected to continue seeing percentage declines well into this year.
Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Domino’s said its same-store sales – or sales at stores open at least a year – were up 11% in the October-december period. That was short of Wall Street’s forecasts, and below the 17.5% growth the company saw in the third quarter and the 16% growth it saw in the second quarter.
Domino’s CEO Ritch Allison said the lack of federal stimulus checks impacted demand in the quarter, and the resurgent virus hurt carry-out orders.
Louisville, Kentucky-based Papa John’s said its North American samestore sales rose 13.5% after skyrocketing more than 20% in both the second and third quarters.