Are Democrats more interested in being able to say the President effectively did nothing than they are in helping Americans struggling through the Covid-19 crisis?
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The Democratic Party is embracing the old adage “never let a good crisis go to waste.” Last May, just two months after the President signed the $2.2 Trillion CARES Act into law, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the HEROES Act. It was another massive economic relief bill whose price tag comes in at a whopping $3 Trillion. Even though Republicans aren’t necessarily the party of fiscal restraint they used to be, that gargantuan amount was a non-starter in the Republican-controlled Senate. (Especially while they were still recovering from the sticker shock of the CARES Act)
Fast forward to today, and America’s economy is still struggling. Bungled attempts to re-open the economy and a failure by far too many Americans to take Coronavirus precautions seriously has led to a resurgence of positive tests and hospitalizations. Hopes of a “V-shaped recovery” have essentially been thwarted. Americans continue to file for unemployment in record numbers, schools are struggling to find responsible paths towards re-opening in the fall, and another possible COVID-19 surge accompanying the fall flu season hovers over the country.
The news on the vaccine front is encouraging and offers us light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. But fears of a severe economic recession, or even a depression, are growing. Since the economic impact of COVID-19 largely stems from the government actions to stop its spread, which has seriously intervened in the free market, it’s highly unlikely the free market can recover in the short-term without a shot of adrenaline. At this point, doing nothing isn’t an option. That is unless we want to consign ourselves to economic destabilization that lasts years beyond the spread of COVID-19.
This brings me back to the Democrats. While Republicans have engaged in antics and brinkmanship of their own, it’s the Democrats who are refusing to retreat from the HEROES Act, and it’s $3 Trillion price tag. While Republicans are arguing amongst themselves over the contents of an economic package, they are all voicing more comfort with a bill more in the realm of $1 Trillion. But the Democrats aren’t budging. (In fact, more than a few ultra-progressive Democrats are signaling they won’t even vote for the HEROES Act, saying it still isn’t enough).
Instead of finding common ground on a shot of adrenaline to the US economy, Democrats are refusing to retreat from what amounts to a couple rows of cocaine (which the Republicans will never agree to).
Are the Democrats engaging in high-stakes brinkmanship to see what concessions they can get from Senate Republicans in the belief that further significant stimulus won’t be possible until after the upcoming election? Or, are they simply using the process to signal their progressive chops with an eye at energizing turnout in this fall’s election while robbing President Trump of the ability to say he signed a major relief bill that put cash into the pockets of Americans hurt by the COVID-19 crisis?
Either way, significant benefits from the CARES act have already expired. Every week of delay to a new stimulus package will cause serious harm to individual Americans and the economy at large. If Democrats don’t come to the table with realistic expectations of what Republicans will be willing to support, Americans who are hurting will add Congressional impasse to their list of woes. And, regardless of what the intentions of Democrats may be, it is the perception of voters that really matters in the end.
Update: The situation is now even more tumultuous with the President’s signing of executive orders to provide economic stimulus. Since these actions all have questionable legality, it throws the viability of the benefits into question. We can only assume that Republicans and Democrats will now spend their time arguing over the orders themselves instead of continuing to hash out any compromises on actual legislation.