Republicans Still Stalling On Pandemic Relief For Working Families

Yesterday, the U.S. reached a new, hideous-- but soon to be forgotten-- threshold in the pandemic: 6.5 million cases. There will have been a quarter million deaths-- most preventable-- before election day. The economy-- the real one, not the Wall Street one-- is a shambles. The Trump Regime response? A government shutdown in 3 weeks because they can't agree on a pandemic relief bill? Mnuchin and Pelosi say it won't happen but McConnell sure seems like he's on the way to making sure it does. He can't even get enough support in his own caucus to pass an austerity-oriented bill and refuses to allow a vote of the bill the House passed in May (since it would likely pass the Senate). The senators are back from their vacations but there's no apparent movement. "Republicans," wrote John Bresnahan, "are eager to raise the pressure on Democrats, but their latest gambit may fall short," as McConnell as his cronies scrambled to round up votes for a narrow economic stimulus package they introduced yesterday and hope to put on the floor this week so as to hammer Democrats for opposing and being unwilling to compromise. McConnell's $500 billion proposal includes $300-per-week federal unemployment payments on top of regular state benefits, another round of funding to aid small and medium-sized businesses, liability protections for businesses, schools and charities, and $105 billion for education. Meanwhile, the Democrats have been negotiating with themselves to bring the House bill down from $3.4 trillion to $2 trillion, making their own bargaining position weaker, as usual.

In fact, Bresnahan reported that Senate Republicans are privately playing up reports that Blue Dogs, New Dems and other conservatives from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party in the House "are pressing Pelosi to compromise on a relief package. They're circulating quotes from a dozen Democrats in swing House races calling for additional economic help for financially strapped Americans."

The Heroes Act passed May 15 with just one Republican vote but with 13 anti-working class worthless fake Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with the GOP. The congressional class enemies in Congress as "Dems" who voted no are constant shit-eaters Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA), Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC), Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS), Abby Finkenauer (closet Blue Dog-IA), Jared Golden (Blue Dog-ME), Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK), Conor Lamb (closet Blue Dog-PA), Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA), Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT), Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR), Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA), Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM) and Susan Wild (New Dem-PA).

"The White House and Senate Republicans have made clear that they still do not comprehend the scale of this disaster or the urgent needs of our communities and the American people," Pelosi said in a statement on Friday. "House Democrats have come to the negotiating table willing to compromise, and we will continue reaching out until we achieve a fair agreement that meets the needs of all Americans."

Senate Democrats from Schumer on down have slammed McConnell for sitting out talks on the coronavirus relief package. While the Kentucky Republican said the key is for the White House and Democratic leaders to reach a deal first, he's also faced a challenge in balancing the competing factions within his own conference.

A large bloc of Senate Republicans, concerned about the tidal wave of deficit spending this year, believes the U.S. economy will recover without additional government aid. McConnell, however, also has a number of vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection in less than two months, and they've been pressing him for action.

Senate Democrats are largely counting on the endangered GOP incumbents to help push the Republican leadership toward an agreement.

"It's still so hard for me to imagine Mitch McConnell packing up the Senate for the election home stretch having not even tried to negotiate in good faith," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT). "I've stubbornly stuck to this idea that Republican senators at the very least will be driven to get something done by their fear of backlash from voters."

After McConnell's bill started floating around, Pelosi remarked that "Republicans appear dead-set on another bill which doesn't come close to addressing the problems and is headed nowhere. If anyone doubts McConnell’s true intent is anything but political, just look at the bill. This proposal is laden with poison pills Republicans know Democrats would never support."

Bloomberg News reported that "The stumbling block is aid to state and local governments," something the Democrats insist on and the GOP is dead set against. The Trumpists characterize the aid as a reward for poorly run, mainly Democratic states. Pelosi in Tuesday’s interview that the GOP has "excuses," not real reasons for opposing the effort. She suggested that restrictions could be placed to meet any objections. San Francisco progressive state Senate candidate Jackie Fielder, told me that "the pandemic has proven what we knew all along: wealth doesn't trickle from the top down, it flows-- or is extracted-- from the bottom up. When working people lost their incomes due to COVID, our economy ground to a halt. When billionaires concentrated greater wealth than ever and major corporations like Amazon saw record growth, everyday people didn't feel the boost. Our elected officials have balanced budgets on the backs of workers rather than demanding that the richest individuals and companies pay their fair share. I'm running for State Senate to change that. We need to learn the painful lessons taught by this pandemic and resist the temptation to return to the status quo. That's why I've committed to taxing millionaires, billionaires, and the biggest corporations in order to fund comprehensive social services and ensure fair wages and protections for workers."

McConnell tried and failed for weeks to get most of the Senate’s 53 Republicans on board with the broader $1 trillion plan in the face of opposition from deficit hawks concerned about adding to this year’s $3.3 trillion budget deficit. He’s previously said that as many 20 Senate Republicans were against any additional spending.

...The looming election will create pressure points for Trump as well as for incumbents in the House and Senate. The White House is pushing for stimulus payments for individuals to go out before the Nov. 3 election.

“Nobody wants to give direct payments to American families more than President Donald Trump,” Vice President Mike Pence said on CNBC Friday.

Immediately before their August break, two Senate Republicans trailing their Democratic challengers in polls-- Susan Collins of Maine and Martha McSally of Arizona-- helped introduce a bill that has a higher unemployment benefit enhancement than the one in the scaled-down proposal.

In the House, Democrats from swing districts are poised to increase pressure on Pelosi to get a deal. The [far right, anti-working class] Blue Dog Coalition sent Pelosi a letter on Aug. 21 urging compromise, and vulnerable first-term Iowa [ultra-conservative, anti-worker New Dem] Cindy Axne followed up last week with a letter demanding action on a smaller package.

...Connecticut Democratic Representative Jim Himes said he thinks Trump ultimately will push to get a deal done later in the month if he’s still trailing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in polls.

“The president of the United States understands one thing and perhaps one thing only, and that is what is good for him personally,” he said. “And it is good for him personally to get some kind of a deal done.”

Mondaire Jones is the progressive Democrat running for an open upstate New York seat in a swingy suburban district that includes chunks of Westchester and Rockland counties. This morning, he was blunt and went right to the point about GOP obstructionism: "To date, Republicans in Congress have only provided Americans with a meager $1,200, even as this pandemic stretches into its seventh month. They are inexplicably refusing to fund our state and local governments, forcing cuts to crucial services like public education and Medicaid. The Republican Party has the power to avert mass suffering, and it is simply choosing not to. It is unfit to govern."