Negotiating Covid 19 Relief Package # 4
The Democrats began at $3 trillion; the Administration and parts of the GOP Senate offered $1 trillion. The Democrats have proposed to split the difference at $2 trillion. The White House has indicated a willingness to compromise on the overall number.
The two sides are in agreement on the $1200 stimulus checks and a reformed and augmented PPP for small businesses.
The Democrats are at $600 weekly for the UI bonus with the proviso that it can be phased down as the economy improves. The White House is now up to $400 weekly UI bonuses.
The Democrats want a 15% increase in SNAP (food stamps). The White House has just indicated willingness to compromise on this; it started at zero.
Both Democrats and Republicans agree on a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. The Democrats want some funding to help those in financial trouble pay their rent or mortgage.
Both Democrats and Republicans agree that the President Trump’s payroll tax holiday is a bad idea, adding a big hole to Social Security and Medicare.
There seems to be agreement on deferring payments on student loan debts.
Democrats want $1 trillion for state and local governments and schools. It looks as if the Trump Administration is now at $100 billion for schools and $150 billion for local government. This is unclear.
Both Democrats and Congressional Republicans agree that the President’s executive orders over the weekend were “unconstitutional slop” in the memorable description of Senator Sasse. Congress, not the President, has taxing and spending authority under Article 1 of the Constitution. It did give a public sense of where the White House was willing to improve its offers. Basically it’s a glorified press release to show the President cares, as opposed to an effective executive order that can be quickly implemented.
No word yet on the Post Office, the Census, or improved state and local election funding and procedures — all of which the President is seeking to use to benefit his re-election chances and GOP dominance of reapportionment and federal spending. The manipulations of the Census count will have long-lasting deleterious impacts. The damage to the nation’s postal service is really bad for the economy and potentially ruinous for the delivery of mail-in ballots. I don’t know about you, but it just took 10 days for two of my letters to arrive in the mail.
Mnuchin/Trump and Pelosi/Shumer are now each encouraging the other side to come back to the negotiating table. That’s encouraging.
Let’s get the deal done this week; the economic recovery is slowing down, the job recovery is slowing down and the virus is now starting to hit rural and Midwestern Americans pretty hard. The only aspect of the economy looking good is the stock market.
Prepared by: Lucien Wulsin
Dated: 8/10/20