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On Tuesday, President Donald Trump tweeted, “Nancy Pelosi is asking for $2.4 Trillion Dollars to bailout poorly run, high crime, Democrat States, money that is in no way related to COVID-19. We made a very generous offer of $1.6 Trillion Dollars and, as usual, she is not negotiating in good faith. I am rejecting their… request, and looking to the future of our Country. I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business.” Twitter
Later on Tuesday, he added, “The House & Senate should IMMEDIATELY Approve 25 Billion Dollars for Airline Payroll Support, &135 Billion Dollars for Paycheck Protection Program for Small Business. Both of these will be fully paid for with unused funds from the Cares Act. Have this money. I will sign now!” and “If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY. I am ready to sign right now.” Twitter
The right criticizes Pelosi for refusing to compromise and is divided about preferred stimulus measures.
“Though Pelosi never mentions it, her bill would rewrite election law for 2020, barring voter-ID requirements, forcing states to count absentee ballots that arrive as late as 10 days after Election Day and imposing same-day voter registration everywhere, though currently only 21 states allow it. These changes don’t belong in a stimulus bill…
“Pelosi’s bill promises school districts $225 billion, but only $5 billion, or 2 percent, would go to making schools safer by improving air quality or installing sinks and other hygiene upgrades… The bill allocates $417 billion to state and local governments, with no strings…
“A sizable portion of stimulus money should go to environmental improvements such as air-cleaning systems, antimicrobial coatings on desks, keyboards and subway poles and other antiviral technologies that improve workplace and transit safety… Instead, in Pelosi’s bill, the $600 billion-plus allocated to cities, states and school districts — a staggering amount equivalent to the nation’s entire defense budget — would be consumed plugging budget holes.”
Betsy McCaughey, New York Post
“Trump is right that Democratic leadership has been demanding far more than it should be in these negotiations. One need only look at the past pork they tried to stuff into Congress’s first two rounds of coronavirus aid to understand Trump’s frustration. But that is no reason to call off negotiations altogether. The two parties managed to compromise on this twice before, and they can do so again…
“Pelosi is as much to blame for this fiasco as Trump. Republicans are probably right when they argue that she is intentionally refusing to compromise on this deal in order to hurt Trump’s reelection chances. If she cared more about the American public than her political fortune, she would have passed this package weeks ago. But now, she can lay the blame for this package’s failure squarely at Trump’s feet. And she will be right to do so — because there was no reason for this. Additional aid is a universally popular and necessary policy, and by abandoning it, Trump is jeopardizing his campaign's chances and, more importantly, the well-being of millions who need help.”
Kaylee McGhee, Washington Examiner
Others argue, “Good for Trump for standing firm on Pelosi’s blowout spending package. Right now the conventional wisdom, which is sometimes not completely wrong, is that this is a major political blunder by Trump. But it does show he can hang tough in the face of political pressure. Maybe he can turn this to his advantage in the next debate and the rest of the campaign. Instead of following Truman and attacking a ‘do-nothing Congress,’ he should attack a fiscally reckless Congress. Maybe Mitch McConnell can reach a deal with Pelosi, though I doubt she wants a deal at this point.”
Steven Hayward, Power Line Blog
“The economy is still rebounding in robust fashion, enough so that at their September meeting the Fed Governors had to update their too pessimistic predictions from June. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told the Journal this week that the economy is healthy enough that no more monetary stimulus may be needed. Data such as industrial production and, this week, service-industry activity have been strong. A rebounding labor market and a 14% savings rate pave the way for more consumer spending without $1,000 checks. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow forecast for third quarter growth is 35.3% as of Tuesday…
“The main current economic problem isn’t a lack of demand-side stimulus. It is the continuing restrictions on business and commerce in many states. The state economies suffering the most are those that have continued the strictest lockdowns. The August jobless rates in New York (12.5%), California (11.4%) and Pennsylvania (10.3%) were the highest in the country. Contrast that with Utah (4.1%), Texas (6.8%) and Georgia (5.6%). The solution is to reopen the economy while protecting the most vulnerable from Covid.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
Some suggest, “Instead of spending the money, why not cut out the government middleman and not collect the taxes? In 2020 the personal income tax was expected to raise $1.81 trillion and the corporate income tax $260 billion, for a total of $2.07 trillion. For a little more than $2 trillion, Congress could suspend the personal and corporate income tax for a year…
“Roughly 150 million workers would no longer have income tax withheld from their paychecks, providing an enormous boost to their incomes and their incentive to work… America’s 30 million or so small businesses would no longer have to pay, collect or calculate the income tax for a year. This would mean more money for hiring workers and Investing… The current 2,100-page House stimulus bill would dole out dollars to hundreds of special interests—solar companies, airlines, transit operators, universities, state and local pension funds, hospitals, art programs and teachers unions. The income tax suspension would benefit everyone.”
Stephen Moore, Wall Street Journal
The left criticizes Trump for refusing to compromise and supports a large stimulus bill.
The left criticizes Trump for refusing to compromise and supports a large stimulus bill.
“The stock market immediately sold off on the news, with the Dow Jones industrial average ending the day 376 points down. Companies from airlines to energy firms to restaurants have warned in recent days that they will have to undertake massive layoffs without more government aid. At least 75,000 layoffs were announced by major corporations at the end of last week alone…
“This new wave of layoffs will add more to the ranks of the 26 million Americans who were already receiving unemployment compensation. Many unemployed say they no longer have enough money to pay rent, car payments or utility bills, or even buy food. The average unemployment payment fell from $900 a week to just over $300 at the end of July, a sharp reduction that makes it hard for many families to financially survive. As these people stop paying renting and car payments, it hurts landlords, firms and banks waiting for the money… Trump risks the nation backsliding economically, putting more jobs and business in danger of going away.”
Heather Long, Washington Post
“Voters surveyed in the New York Times/Siena College national poll in late September favored a $2 trillion stimulus package by a 72-23 margin. The possibility that the race would tighten in the stretch run because of economic improvement was one of the things helping Trump most in our [election] model… Now, though, with voters possibly encountering news of layoffs instead of renewed growth, Trump may have undermined his best comeback strategy…
“And the way Trump went about it makes matters worse for him, politically. Up until this point, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi had faced at least a little bit of a risk: Though the stimulus might have helped Trump, she could have been partly blamed if talks collapsed. But now, Trump’s tweets make it clear that he was the one who pulled out of the talks.”
Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight
“The Republican rationale for opposing the House bill has always been that it is a ‘blue-state bailout,’ a reward for irresponsible Democratic jurisdictions. This claim is simply false; the economic crisis has dried up tax revenue and driven up spending needs in states and cities run by Democrats and Republicans alike… Suppose it were somehow true, though, that Democratic states and towns were exclusively in need of federal help to avoid tax hikes and service cuts. You can see why ideological conservatives might salivate at the opportunity to use a crisis to cut them down to size. But why would Trump want that? Does he think laying off cops and teachers in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania helps him?”
Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine
“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) seems completely indifferent to whether there’s a stimulus bill or not; he may have decided that Trump is going to lose anyway, so he wants to make life as difficult as possible for President Biden, and too much economic recovery would hamper that effort… And Trump? Officially, he supported more stimulus, until out of nowhere he put the kibosh on the negotiations. But the truth is that it’s safe to say he had few strong opinions about it one way or another.”
Paul Waldman, Washington Post
“Viewed broadly, Trump's first term has been defined by the deals he didn't do. Trump promised to force Mexico to pay for the construction of the southern border wall. He said he would renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal. That he would make a peace deal between Israel and Palestine. That he would pass a new health care bill. That he would pass a new gun control measure… The lack of a [stimulus] deal represents a remarkable failing of one of the central promises of his presidency: That he could make deals that other longtime Washington politicians could only dream about.”
Chris Cillizza, CNN
“It’s true that the long-term fiscal outlook gives cause for concern… But for the moment, as [Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome] Powell pointed out, the risks are skewed. Fiscal stimulus that’s too meager or too long delayed could tip the economy into slower growth or even outright contraction (which would itself have serious long-term fiscal consequences). Right now, on the other hand, with the government able to borrow for nothing and inflation running lower than target, delivering too much fiscal stimulus poses little if any danger.”
Editorial Board, Bloomberg
“The initial goal in augmenting unemployment benefits was to provide full replacement rate income to workers forced to shelter in place. Instead, lawmakers agreed to a $600 flat weekly supplement for all recipients as it soon became clear that many states’ computer systems were incapable of issuing actual replacement-level wages… What’s called for now is to address the problem at the source by modernizing our government’s fintech infrastructure. Not only would strengthened systems better facilitate essential programs like those in the CARES Act, but the more proficient policies they enable could even contribute to a restored public confidence in government.”
Jason Tepperman, The Hill
