Pelosi And Schumer Fail To Extract Any Concessions To Protect Americans From Trump As They Give Him Another $400 Billion To Spend

What bullshit!

Trump is taking a gamble that voters want social distancing to end and that ending them won't explode the infection rate-- at least not among his base. But a new poll released yesterday by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal show how shaky that bet is. "Nearly 60 percent of American voters say they are more concerned that a relaxation of stay-at-home restrictions would lead to more COVID-19 deaths than they are that those restrictions will hurt the U.S. economy," wrote NBC's Mark Murray. That's the consensus among normal people anyway. Among greed-driven members of the Republican Death Cult, there is no consensus.

Most Americans disapproval of how Trump has handled the national response, but 44% still think he's doing a satisfactory job with the pandemic even though only 36% of voters say they generally trust what Trump says about the coronavirus. They trust Pence slightly less-- and Biden even less than that!

The NBC News/WSJ poll also shows how the past month has changed Americans’ attitudes about the coronavirus.

In March, 53 percent of voters said they were worried that someone in their immediate family would catch the disease. Now it’s 73 percent.

Also in March, a combined 26 percent said the coronavirus has changed their day-to-day life in a “very” or “fairly” major way. Now it’s 77 percent.

And in a CNBC poll conducted in early April by the same polling firms, 27 percent said they personally know someone infected by the coronavirus. Now, just more than a week later, it’s 40 percent.

“Socially and economically, we have seen a sea change in attitudes in just a month,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates.

All that said, Pelosi and her team completely wimped out in negotiations with the White House over the next phase of the bailout. This one is a $400 billion small business loan program that Congress plans to pass tomorrow. The Washington Post's Erica Werner and Jeff Stein reported that "The deal would add around $300 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses that was swamped by demand in the three weeks since Congress passed it as part of a $2 trillion coronavirus rescue bill. It also would add $60 billion to a separate emergency loan program for small businesses that also is out of money, Schumer said. The agreement also would include $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for testing, which have been major Democratic demands. Some of the money in the small business program would be directed specifically to rural and minority businesses... Another major Democratic ask-- money for cities and states-- appeared left out of the deal, though talks remained fluid, and Schumer said some items were still being discussed. Congressional aides cautioned that the deal was not final... Democrats had also been demanding an additional $150 billion for cities and states whose budgets have been decimated by the economic toll of the coronavirus. But Republicans have opposed that, insisting it was not the federal government’s job to make up for state budget shortfalls."

It looks like an incredibly unpopular and barely legitimate president-- who few believe no matter what he's lying about-- rolled the sad sack Democratic leadership, which gets no money for local government-- which will lead to a collapse of government services. And what happened to protecting democracy with voting reforms and to protecting the postal service?

Last time the Democrats tried to exercise even minimal oversight on the 2 trillion dollars they gave him, he ignored their concerns and the law and started spending-- and likely stealing-- the big pot of money immediately. Kevin Robillard wrote that "When Congress passed the largest spending law in American history, a $2 trillion outlay aimed at offsetting the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, it set up three different ways to look after the enormous sums and root out corruption or mismanagement of the cash. Three weeks later, none of the three options-- a special inspector general appointed by President Donald Trump, a council of existing inspectors general, or a special oversight panel set up by Congress-- are active. Sabotage by the Trump administration, combined with congressional apathy and gridlock, means the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are spending hundreds of millions of dollars with no real watchdogs. The special inspector general appointed by Trump has views of executive power that have alarmed Democrats, and stands little chance of confirmation until May. Trump shoved aside the leader of the council of existing inspectors general. And the congressional oversight panel’s roster remains unfilled. Meanwhile, the government program to loan money to small businesses to keep workers on the job has already burned through more than $300 billion, and the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have unveiled a slew of programs to push trillions more into the economy."

Strangling Democracy by Nancy Ohanian