The Kennedy Center Kickback

Having sucked off the federal teat for a good portion of my professional life, I'm fairly forgiving of people taking advantage of government largess, but this pisses me off:

The Kennedy Center Timeline:

Completes a $250 M renovation
2019: Receives $41 M from taxpayers
Yesterday: Gets $25 M from Relief Bill
Today: Tells musicians it will stop paying them
Donates $5 M to the DNC

The Kennedy Center launders taxpayer money for the Democrats.

— Cari Kelemen (@KelemenCari) March 28, 2020

More at the WaFreeBee, Kennedy Center Tells Musicians It Will Stop Paying Them Hours After $25 Million Bailout Is Signed

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts informed members of the National Symphony Orchestra that they would no longer be paid just hours after President Trump signed a $25 million taxpayer bailout for the cultural center, according to an email obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Nearly 100 musicians will no longer receive paychecks after April 3, according to an email from the orchestra's Covid-19 Advisory Committee.

"The Covid-19 Advisory Committee was broadsided today during our conversation with [Kennedy Center President] Deborah Rutter," the email says. "Ms. Rutter abruptly informed us today that the last paycheck for all musicians and librarians will be April 3 and that we will not be paid again until the Center reopens."

The email went out to members on Friday evening, shortly after President Trump signed the $2 trillion CARES Act, a stimulus package intended to provide relief to people left unemployed by the coronavirus pandemic. Congress included $25 million in taxpayer funding for the Kennedy Center, a provision that raised eyebrows from both Democrats and Republicans, but ultimately won support from President Trump. The bailout was designed to "cover operating expenses required to ensure the continuity of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and its affiliates, including for employee compensation and benefits, grants, contracts, payments for rent or utilities, fees for artists or performers," according to the law's text. The arts organization decided that the relief did not extend to members of the National Symphony Orchestra, its house orchestra.

"Everyone should proceed as if their last paycheck will be April 3," the email says. "We understand this will come [as a] shock to all of you, as it did to us."

The Kennedy Center did not return request for comment.

Five million would pay a lot of musicians salaries.

The musicians will probably be able to claim unemployment, as well as receive the same CARES payments as every other citizen, (unless they're not citizens; a distinct possibility), but still, the money is being given to help the business to help retain their employees.

In truth, the Kennedy Center did not give 5 million to the DNC after the stimulus bill passed, but they have a long history of donating almost exclusively to Democrats. 

If the Trumps (and other political dynasties) are allegedly forbidden to have their businesses collect stimulus money, businesses that take stimulus money should be forbidden to give money to political parties.