Millions of unemployed and cash-strapped Americans are anxiously awaiting word of Congressional agreement on a new Covid-19 relief and economic stimulus plan.
So here’s precisely where the negotiations stand: Nowhere.
Which isn’t to say the Democrats and Republicans aren’t talking — or at least squabbling.
“In a floor speech Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) … blasted the $3 trillion Democratic plan as a ‘totally unserious proposal,’” reports the Washington Post.
“McConnell was quickly followed by Senate Minority Leader [Chuck] Schumer (D-NY), who noted that … some 20 GOP senators are expected to oppose any plan and that Republicans had wasted precious time” in coming up with a “half-baked, half-hearted proposal of half measures.”
The Democrats are united behind a $3.4 trillion relief bill passed in May by the House.
Senate Republicans are deeply divided over their own $1 trillion plan, prompting Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) to declare: “We have unity in disagreement.”
On Twitter, one outspoken Democrat posted a list of elements he says should be in any stimulus package — and should not be controversial:
Earlier, both sides resorted to outlandish metaphors to describe the difficulty of bringing together the two parties’ plans.
“It’s like a giraffe and a flamingo … they’re unable to mate,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday at a meeting in her office that included Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, reports Politico Playbook.
Instead of animals, Meadows chose sports, telling reporters Tuesday night after meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the negotiations are in the “second inning” — that is, barely under way.
Meadows suggested that the difference between the Democratic and Republican plans is so great that instead of negotiating, the two parties will have to start from scratch.
“Right now I think everybody recognizes there’s a long way between $1 trillion and $3 trillion and so to suggest there’s room for negotiation, it’s actually going to have to be built from the ground up,” he said.
Adding to the pressure to get something done, lawmakers know all too well that the current $600/week federal boost to state unemployment benefits has run out. Republicans want to cut it to $200/week; Democrats are adamant about keeping it as is.
As Congress flails about, the November election looms — and that appears to favor the Democrats. Newsweek reports that “62% of voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin believe that the $600 payments should be extended.”
And hey — what about vacation?
“It remains unclear if Congress can strike an agreement by the end of next week, when the Senate is scheduled to adjourn for its August recess,” says The Hill.
Characteristically, President Trump isn’t doing much to help the GOP side, calling intra-party disagreements over the plan “sort of semi-irrelevant” — whatever that means.
Politico Playbook says translating political speech into English can be such a challenge for non-politicians that it is providing a line-by-line guide. For example:
“We’ve had a good meeting” translates to: “Man, we’re screwed.” There’s nothing going on “and the meeting might as well have been canceled.”
Pelosi, Politico suggests, has a kind of dialect of her own; speaking to reporters on Tuesday night she said: “We’re going to be very brief because we have work to do.” Which could translate to: “God, the Republicans are so bad, and we have to at least try to make something of their mess.”
As for Trump’s silence or opaque comments, Politico says they’re untranslatable: “It’s like Shalom in Hebrew: It can mean hi, goodbye or peace.”
