John Oliver on Sunday night showed how difficult it is for Americans to claim the newly enacted benefits passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump.
Those benefits were supposed to include enhanced unemployment as well as the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. But accessing them was another story.
Oliver detailed a confusing system where it can be difficult to reach anyone, and harder still to obtain answers when you do. Yet as the “Last Week Tonight” host pointed out, that didn’t stop Trump from boasting about the programs anyway. Trump called the rollout of the Paycheck Protection Program a “tribute to a well-run government,” then bragged about how popular it was.
“That is classic Trump: to try and brag about how in-demand an emergency bailout system is,” Oliver said. “If he was captain of the Titanic, you just know he’d be saying, ’I just want to congratulate everyone. These lifeboats have become so popular. A few weeks ago? Nothing. Now, they’re moving like hotcakes. It’s really a tribute to a well-run ship.”
Oliver also looked at how many essential workers are providing goods and services to millions of Americans while working in unsafe conditions. Some of these employees work for major U.S. companies yet they lack access to health insurance or unpaid sick leave:
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