Negotiations over the next round of coronavirus relief remain stalled as Republicans continue to stand in the way of the stimulus the country needs to prevent a depression. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who continue to represent Donald Trump in the negotiations, will meet with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Tuesday, as well as having lunch with Senate Republicans.
You’d think Senate Republicans would be getting serious about passing a bill after having wasted literally months since the House passed its $3 trillion stimulus package and with their long August recess slated to begin at the end of the week. But the negotiations are basically nowhere at this point.
Republicans continue to insist on slashing the expanded pandemic unemployment benefits from $600 a week to $200 a week, while Democrats continue to fight for the tens of millions of people relying on unemployment. When it comes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, negotiations are “Not where we need,” Pelosi told House Democrats.
Republicans flatly reject aid to state and local governments, despite the loss of 1.5 million jobs from those governments already. Pelosi told her caucus that Democrats will get money for this priority, even if the GOP “doesn’t know it yet.”
Republicans don’t want to give schools enough money to safely educate all the kids, and Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are looking to use this crisis to destroy public education once and for all through privatization.
Ensuring the U.S. Postal Service is in shape to handle increased voting by mail is “A big fight for us,” Pelosi told House Democrats, because Republicans don’t want that and Trump in particular wants to ensure the election is a disaster.
In other words, Republicans, who have given wealthy people and corporations trillions in giveaways, remain absolutely opposed to spending the money needed to get regular people—and the nation’s economy—through a pandemic. No to unemployment when the pandemic has put tens of millions of people out of work. No to food assistance when children are going hungry. No to the money to safely reopen schools even once community spread of COVID-19 declines to levels where that could conceivably be safe. No to helping state and local governments hammered by increased expenses and falling revenue, even though refusing to send that help risks millions more lost jobs. No to funding the most popular part of the government or using that funding to make voting safe and accessible to everyone in November.
Maybe the threat of losing their recess will make Senate Republicans get serious, and put pressure on the White House. But given their behavior over the past several months, I wouldn’t bet on it.