Senate Republicans Sidelined in COVID Relief Negotiations

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin is working with the Democrats, and some in the GOP are working on alternatives.

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Appearing on Fox News Channel’s Special Report Wednesday night after weeks of negotiations with Democrats over the next round of coronavirus relief, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was asked whether a deal was in sight.

“Well, I sure hope so,” he replied with a chuckle. “I think both sides want to get to an outcome. That’s the good news. The bad news is we are a long way apart, and, uh… we’ll see.”

If it wasn’t already clear last week, it sure is now: Congress is beyond late getting to that outcome. The CARES Act’s provision expanding unemployment benefits by $600 a week lapsed at the end of July, meaning the income of about 30 million Americans is currently falling off a cliff, an outcome neither Democrats nor Republicans wanted. But they’ve stalled out over a dollar amount: Democrats want to keep the benefit at current levels, while most Republicans argue it should be reduced to $200 extra a week or 70 percent of a recipient’s previous income. Until they strike a deal, $0 a week is where it sits.

The Census Bureau last week reported that more than a quarter of American adults are in dire housing straits: either they weren’t able to make their last rent or mortgage payment or they don’t expect to be able to pay next month’s. 

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  1. Tim Johnson

    Senate Republicans have stood by mute as the Trump presidency nearly doubled the deficit from Obama, it's a bit late to get a fiscal backbone

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  2. linda

    Why is Mnunchin even there? He's a Wall Street democrat and a friend of Jared. Other than that he's a newbie and from the sounds of it there are a lot of Repub senators who do not like his moves inside the negotiations. He wants anything signed. Trump wants anything signed. Dem's just want to throw money out the cargo bay as it flies over America. One problem. They need these senators to sign on and this isn't doable. The repub senators need the burb vote and the burbs are more fiscally conservative than urban voters.

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    1. C Winter

      The reasons Dems want to keep unemployment insurance benefits the same is because changing it would be a logistical nightmare. I'm going on five months and still have not received anything because of an antiquated system and an overwhelmed agency. Dems also want to help out states so they don't have to declare bankruptcy and lay off city and state workers. That is money well spent to keep the economy afloat.

      Here's an article explaining the problem we face if UI is changed.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/business/unemployment-payments-change.html

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    Octávio Lima

    This was always the danger and something that has happened too often, that the President does not want to negotiate with the GOP. He did not want to do it during the health care debacle. He did not want to do it during the tax reform proposals, which turned out to be a good thing, he never wanted to negotiate with the party on entitlement reform. I am not sure the President actually likes to deal with the party he is supposed to represent. But it is always dispiriting the only solution of which politicians can think is to spend more money.

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  4. Raincheck

    Good to see we can all pull together in a time in crisis. The Romney, et al, phased reduction proposal makes total sense, therefore it has no chance.

    The problem is, yes, the GOP holds 2 of the 3 institutions in this negotiation, but the executive branch is a total mess, doesn’t know what it wants, and changes it mind on a whim, making negotiation impossible. And Trump’s unpopularity gives the Dems more leverage.

    The GOP’s brilliant strategy of suddenly becoming interested in managing spending when a crisis is calling for more not less governmental help is priceless.

    So Pelosi and Schumer feel like they have free range to play politics with this, because it just makes Trump and the GOP look bad.

    Makes me so proud!

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  5. teddytruther

    I may have missed this in the article, but it seems important to note that Democrats had their proposal on the table in May, and there was no proposal from the GOP until days before the benefits expired. The central issue here appears to be that McConnell can't get his Senators to vote 'Yes' on almost anything except for judges and tax cuts.

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    David Chen

    I wonder if the supercharged unemployment may be allowing these protests to go on for so long. Many of the states where they were particularly fierce or lengthy also have the highest EDD benefits. I don't know a whole lot of people who can afford 2-3 months of not earning an income. If the two are related, this is egg on the face of anyone who thinks that civil unrest can be mollified with state handouts.

    https://www.moneytalksnews.com/slideshows/unemployment-benefits-by-state/?all

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      Aylene Wright

      Yeah, I saw from your other reply that in Washington State an unemployed person can get $5560 a month, and perhaps not coincidentally that is where some of the very prolonged protests are happening. I do get the sense that while many young people there are still protesting out of sincere outrage, others are just bored sitting at home and going there to play act being a protester, the same way they can play out being heroes fighting evil monsters in a video game.

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        David Chen

        Some of the more peaceful ones have been described almost as a street fair kind of vibe, but I'm mostly surprised that so many people can do this for so long. I spent the first 2 weeks after the whole thing started hunkered down overnight at the factory with my AR, mentally rehearing what I'd say to de-escalate if someone tried to break in. We are directly across from the police station and there was a protest down the street where people were throwing fireworks.

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    Philbnichols

    "Democrats want to keep the benefit at current levels, while most Republicans argue it should be reduced to $200 extra a week or 70 percent of a recipient’s previous income. Until they strike a deal, $0 a week is where it sits."
    I think this is inaccurate, or at least disingenuous.
    '$0 a week' - *in addition to* the normal unemployment benefit - 'is where it sits'.
    People aren't getting nothing; they just aren't getting the supplemental. Which is important, I know, but The Dispatch is dedicated to being truthful.

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    1. C Winter

      Self-employed get nothing.

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        Philbnichols

        Is that true? I hadn't thought about that.

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        1. C Winter

          Actually no. I had to look it up and they get UI plus federal assistance. But low payment for UI in my state is slightly over 100 a week and high is 370, so the extra 200 GOP offered cannot be taken seriously.

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    2. Silence

      Many people are currently getting nothing. In VA, unemployment runs 13 weeks. My daughter has been unemployed since March- the supplemental is all she is receiving.

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      Logical

      While we are discussing how much extra for the unemployed, total ppp loans givrn out ~600$B. All will be forgiven. And about half of that will be windfall for companies doing normal or even better in covid digital transformation. Hedge funds, consulting firms, retail stores, etc. Even private schools and which already collected full tuitions in spring!

      So, the GOP is worried about the little guy making a bit much and turning lazy?

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      Aylene Wright

      Hmm, it is interesting that we had such a different response to that. As I actually liked the subtle point that while Ds and Rs are deadlocked over whether to give $600 extra or $200 extra, the actual affected people are getting $0 extra a week, which is ironic, to say the least.

      And yes. I assumed that he meant $0 EXTRA from the feds a week, as that sentence came right after "$200 extra a week or 70% of ... previous income". I did not get any sense that anyone was being disingenuous and trying to give the impression that the feds now totally fund UI and so unemployed people are getting nothing at all.

      But I guess I might just be an outlier? Maybe for the benefit of the more casual TD reader that line should have been "$0 a week EXTRA is where it sits"?

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      David Chen

      Baseline state caps do vary greatly from being $235 (MI) to $790 (WA). Its crazy that someone can be collecting $5560 a month on EDD. That's akin to a $67k annual salary.

      https://www.moneytalksnews.com/slideshows/unemployment-benefits-by-state/?all

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        BMTD

        I suppose the "craziness" depends on the cost of living in that area. $67k in Seattle probably isn't as much as one would think.

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          rlritt

          So than no one should get anything extra, so WA unemployed don't get too much. That doesn't sound fair.

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          David Chen

          It would go farther than the $450 cap that CA/NY has.

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    David Chen

    I was reading this transcript and this last line caught my eye. Is this actually a common figure of speech or is the senility on capital hill as contagious as COVID?

    "AT THE END, MEADOWS said, “We are making little progress. There is still the $3.4 trillion donkey or elephant in the room. There will be no number anywhere close.” PELOSI said: “It’s a beautiful swan.”

    Source:
    https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2020/08/05/you-admit-you-dont-know-what-youre-talking-about-489987?cid=su_tw_pb

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    Earl King

    I should mark this stuff on my calendar. I said I don't think a deal gets done. Democrats fighting for $600 till end of year and McScrooge GOP fighting to lower it to $200. It's not a good look. A phased approach would work if you were dealing with normal people. Pelosi and Schumer are not normal people. They are hyper-partisan and don't give two shits about the American people. They haven't put any compromise on the table. Mnunchin will cave.
    Schumer and Pelosi was to return the SALT deduction which only helps the rich. If they do give in McConnell should say ok but then they have to go back to the smaller personal deduction. Not the expanded one Trump signed in to Law. Bailing out the states is a big deal for Democrats. AFSCME......this is the Union Democrats are beholden too. This is a have to for them. Otherwise Blue State Governors will have to layoff people or curb their gifts to their constituents. The GOP doesn't want to bail them out. So here is a question I have. Is lost Tax revenue from closures Covid related? Clearly....so don't give them 100% give them 70%...and say you have to tighten your belt...OK but they'll raise taxes for the shortfall...they'll never fire employees. Pennsylvania has 12.8 million residents. 161,000 State employees. NJ has 8.8 million residents and 143,000 state employees....Ummm. Do you think NJ might have bloated government? 2/3rds the size of population and almost as many employees. The GOP has a point...So this package is going nowhere.

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      Pat Riot

      I must say, I cannot imagine why Republicans are picking that hill to die on (esp. when they are dying on a bunch of other hills right now they didn't pick).

      The Democrats in the house had a proposal *two months ago* which the Republicans ignored until a few days before the deadline.

      Mnuchin is right to ignore the Republicans in the Senate. Mnuchin, mind you, is the only sane and rational member of Trump's cabinet, which is the only reason our economy is still in some semblance of working (and the only reason the stock market is still going great despite the downturn).

      Also, in another strange reversal, Republicans long ago figured out that the *one* populist thing they could do and still be Conservative was to lower taxes. Yet here they are, fighting the Democrats tooth and nail to *keep them to high level they raised them to*. Bizzaro land.

      Democrats fighting for a tax cut and Republicans fighting to keep them high is all you need to know about how reversed the brands, "Democrat" and "Republican" are today.

      It reminds me of the brands "Chevy" and "Toyota" respectively. Those two brands completely reversed themselves in 20 years starting in the early 1970s. I'm old enough to remember lines like, "he could't afford a real Chevy so he had to buy a Japanese piece of junk called a Toyota". The same reversal is going on with D/R.

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      Idontdocute

      I think Pelosi and Schumer want to win in November...full stop. The more the GOP flounders, in fights, and pouts the more they own this train wreak. If it stays this broken until February, it’s not their fault. They laid out their plan, that was passed in the House, months ago so no hidden agenda here (wink and a nod).

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    3. John Smith

      At least for New Jersey, they give more in taxes to the federal government than they receive in aid/other forms of federal income (like defense contracting). If NJ was in a state of consistent decline then I'd agree they should tighten their belt. In this case the decline is due to the coronavirus and not general mismanagement.

      I'll add that I'd be totally in favor of having provisions that specify the money cannot be put into pension funds.

      https://howmuch.net/articles/federal-budget-receipts-and-expenditures-across-the-united-states

      https://www.governing.com/week-in-finance/gov-taxpayers-10-states-give-more-feds-than-get-back.html

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        Earl King

        My wife is a teacher...and pension fund is about $30 some billion unfunded.. So I'd be totally fine if it all went in to the pension...LOL. I'm entering retirement....going to make my kids and millionaires and billionaires support me....Isn't that the most American thing I can do?

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        1. RunTrail

          Truth is, the more typical American thing right now is your now-out-of-work kids will be moving back home with you and your pensions/retirement funds will go towards supporting the whole family again...just givin' you a heads up... ;~)

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            rlritt

            yep

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      2. John Smith

        I'd edit this in if I could, but Boroughitis could be one of the reasons for a lot the high numbers of state employees relative to PA.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boroughitis

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      3. John Smith

        Disclaimer: I live in New Jersey and know people who draw pensions. From what I hear the pension programs are now far less generous to new state workers.

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    Victor Clairmont

    Annnnnd Democrats and Republicans playing games here while Americans run out of money and have trouble paying bills and getting work.

    So stupid.

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    1. RunTrail

      If they'd originally taken all these trillions they're printing up and divvied them up between every household in a one-off payment, left businesses and bail-outs out of it, we'd be so much better off right now.

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