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These Ain’t the End of Days I Was Promised

With the various economic indicators sinking like the Titanic and the number of covid-19 cases shooting upwards like a SpaceX rocket, the Senate failed to pass an emergency bill Sunday night to provide aid to the public, the healthcare system, and business. 

After days of negotiations, the bill did not move forward as the 47-47 vote was 23 short of the 60 needed to move it to the floor. (Five Republicans, including Rand Paul, who tested positive for the virus, and four others who were in self-quarantine after possible exposure to the virus, were not present to vote.) 

According to a post at the Washington Post website,  the 1.8 trillion dollar package “would (include) direct payments of $1,200 to most American adults and $500 to children. It would steer $350 billion towards small businesses to stem the tide of layoffs, and push billions more towards hospitals and the unemployment insurance system. And it would create a massive, $500 billion dollar program for businesses, states, and localities, with the direction and velocity of this loan program left mostly to the Treasury Department's discretion."

This latter section, the $500 billion set-aside for business, is a sticking point for Senate Democrats who feel that it favors large corporate interests and provides little oversight of the Treasury’s handling of the funds. Some Democrats have termed it a “slush fund”. 

Despite the failure to move the bill, negotiations are reportedly continuing.

To muddy the waters even more, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke early Sunday of the House releasing its own bill.

“Hopefully it will be compatible [with the Senate bill],” Pelosi is quoted as saying.

Even at this moment of a severe existential crisis, the priorities of these people are bizarre.

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For his part, newly-minted wartime President Donald Trump gave another of what have become daily briefings to the public. He announced several actions, including the deployment of National Guard units in New York, Washington, California, the states hit hardest by the coronavirus, and the authorization for FEMA to construct temporary hospital facilities in New York and California. He presented numbers- not verified- of masks, ventilators and other needed equipment which had been shipped to the states. Queried by a reporter about why he hadn’t used the Defense Production Act to order manufacturing firms to produce protective masks, ventilators, and other equipment, Trump stated that private firms were making the transition voluntarily. To sum up, Trump has been giving us lots of talk, but it is difficult to assess the amount of actual walk that’s been done. He isn’t helped by his record of lying and exaggerating about even the most petty issues, and the reports that he ignored early warnings about the coming pandemic.

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has stepped up his game, taking decisive steps, being open with the public, and accepting responsibility for his actions. Political leadership- what a concept!

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Of note: Buried in the Senate stimulus bill is $50 billion for loans to the airlines. These are the companies who had made large profits in the last eight years and spent most of that money buying back their own stocks. (Tim Wu pointed this out last week.) And as Catherine Rampell wrote this week in the Washington Post, airlines, as many have in the past, can seek shelter in bankruptcy. Taxpayer dollars would be better utilized shoring up the healthcare system and assisting people who now find their financial situations precarious.