A hyped-up on steroids Donald Trump ended negotiations between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Tuesday afternoon, by tweet, of course. In his inability to understand how anything works, he declared that Pelosi was "asking for $2.4 Trillion Dollars to bailout poorly run, high crime, Democrat States, money that is in no way related to COVID-19," none of which is true, and says he has "instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business." He won't.
He also gave McConnell the green light to do what he was going to do anyway—ignore trying to help the nation recover from coronavirus so he can focus on installing a Supreme Court justice who will destroy our health care. Trump declared, in his 'roid-fuled tweet storm, that the "Stock Market is at record levels." Not after this!
That was just ahead of a key call that was to take place between Mnuchin and Pelosi. That another call was happening Tuesday was an indication of making progress. So much for that. When the Trump tweet came, Pelosi was on a call with fellow Democratic House members. "We will have a bill," she said, and "obviously the president wants to do it after after the election. [...] Believe me, there are people who think that steroids have an impact on thinking [...] so I don't know."
Earlier in the day, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress that the economy is in real danger. He echoed the sentiment we’ve been hearing from him for months—Congress needs to go big, bigger even than they’ve been talking about. He warned of a looming, "tragic" scenario in which "a long period of unnecessarily slow progress could continue to exacerbate existing disparities in our economy." He said an inadequate spending response from lawmakers would "lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses."
"Over time, household insolvencies and business bankruptcies would rise, harming the productive capacity of the economy, and holding back wage growth," Powell warned. "By contrast, the risks of overdoing it seem, for now, to be smaller. Even if policy actions ultimately prove to be greater than needed, they will not go to waste." Pelosi responded in a statement saying "Chairman Powell’s warning could not be more clear: robust action is immediately needed to avert economic catastrophe from the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic."
So the House needs to go really robust now. Go back to the drawing board and come up with the kind of response Powell is talking about—make it $5 or $8 or even $10 trillion. Get the public use to that number because it’s going to be what Joe Biden has to accomplish when he takes office on January 20.
In the meantime, Democrats have to be crystal clear on this message: Trump and his fellow Republicans don’t care if you live or die. They aren’t helping you survive coronavirus. Just in case you do, they’ll make sure the Supreme Court takes away your preexisting conditions protections.
