Donald Trump’s plan for an economic response to the coronavirus outbreak seems to begin and end with a payroll tax cut that basically no one thinks is a good idea and bailouts for pet industries. Now, because Senate Republicans don't want to be anywhere near this, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will have to sit down with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and come to a workable package—something that responds to the real economic challenges we face while, presumably, still being stupid enough to get Trump’s support.
Democrats have emphasized what working people need from coronavirus response: paid sick leave, expanded unemployment insurance, protections and support for the workers actually dealing with COVID-19 directly, protections against price gouging, and of course major investment in public health. In fact, they are introducing and plan to pass a House bill this week that includes paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, food assistance, and free coronavirus testing. But that’s Pelosi’s House, and as we know, Mitch McConnell’s Senate and Donald Trump’s White House are a very different matter.
Trump finally seems to kinda sorta understand that he can’t make coronavirus go away by pretending it doesn’t exist, though that doesn’t mean he’s not trying. “Just stay calm—it will go away,” he said Tuesday. (It will not.) He also continued to talk up “what we’ve done with tax cuts and regulation cuts and all of those things,” as a result of which, he claimed, “The consumer has never been in a better position than they are right now.” Therefore, more tax cuts! Specifically, that payroll tax cut he’s so determined to get.
Even Senate Republicans are not sold on the idea—yet. No doubt they’ll fall in line as they always do, but for now, Sen. Lindsey Graham said there was a “mixed” reaction among his colleagues. And when as accomplished a suck-up as Graham is admitting it was mixed, that’s a sign there was some dissent.
The good news is that Pelosi does not just have a seat at the table, she’s across the table from Steven Mnuchin, and if you had to place bets on one of those two as a negotiator, it wouldn’t even be close. With the House moving fast to pass a bill that would actually help working people with some of the coronavirus-related economic challenges they’ll face, Pelosi is building leverage. She still has to deal with the giant well of stupid and evil that is Trump-McConnell, but she’s got more to work with than she often does.