HarthorneWingo wrote:Pointgod wrote:Clyde_Style wrote:
I'm not a big fan of Schumer, but I feel Pelosi has been far more resilient in the face of sheer madness than she gets credit for.
She pounced immediately. Bluff called.
I don't see how Mitch can get away from this now. Besides, it is from the printing press. Fiscal prudence is not what the GOP practices so I think they'll agree
There are a lot of legitimate criticisms of Schumer and Pelosi but I feel like most people that criticize them have no clue how literally impossible it is to get anything done when one party only lives to obstruct. Remember Republicans have 2 out of 3 branches of Congress. Trump can’t do **** if McConnell won’t bring it to the floor and McConnell can’t pass anything through unless Trump signed it. The advantage is always 2-1 Republicans. However since Trump states he wanted 2000 dollar checks Pelosi smartly took advantage and set a plan in motion to bring it to the floor. That only happens because on that issue because of Trump, now McConnell is outnumbered 2-1. People legitimately want Schumer and Pelosi to magically force McConnell to do something with zero leverage.
This article should be require reading to understand the asymmetrical warfare between the two parties and why Democrats can’t just act like Republicans.
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/05/01/why-democrats-govern-and-republicans-obstruct/
Trust me, I completely understand and appreciate Republican obstruction. But please explain to me - or refer to an authoritative article on - why (1) the democrats passed up the $1.8 billion offer, and (2) didn't negotiate harder with a desperate Mitch McConnell on the $900 billion package?
To answer your first question you can’t just react to things without understanding context. That 1.8 billion was 3 weeks before the election, but do you even know what was included in the bill?
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/09/trump-raises-coronavirus-stimulus-offer-to-1point8-trillion-sources-say.html To find a deal, Republicans and Democrats would have to quickly resolve several issues that have seemed intractable throughout months of fruitless talks. Pelosi has insisted on at least $436 billion in relief for cash-crunched state and local governments, while Trump has resisted sending them more than the $150 billion they received earlier this year.
Why would Democrats agree to that bill before the election when they were poised to take the Senate and Presidency? There’s no point giving Trump a political win unless you’re getting significant concessions that’s closer to the bill that was already passed through the House. And we all know that 1.8 trillion was never really serious because.....
Earlier Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said another stimulus package is "unlikely in the next three weeks." He has focused on confirming Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett before the election, and the Senate has set a confirmation hearing for Monday.
It was never going to get through the Senate. So that 1.8 trillion is a talking point that was never realistic. If you want to blame someone, blame Trump and McConnell for not getting the 1.8 billion bill through the Senate which would have helped Trump get re-election. Once again proving that both of them have terrible political instincts because passing a bill would have helped them retain power. And the last thing I’ll say is this:
The last time the GOP put a narrow bill (which included just $300 billion in new spending) on the floor of the Senate, Democrats used the filibuster to block it because they thought it was far too small.
Yeah so you should thank God Pelosi is still speaker because if McConnell and Trump were still in power this is what you’d be getting.
2. To answer your second point yes they should have put more pressure on McConnell, I personally think they should have pushed for 150 billion for states and local governments pointing out that Trump had previously supported that. But McConnell only showed his hand late last week and there’s only a short time to pass the government spending bill (again Congress’ fault) and we don’t know what else could have been negotiated without blowing up the whole deal. Remember Republicans don’t actually care if the government shuts down or if people die and go homeless. I’m sure they’d just as well throw a grenade and leave Biden to clean up the mess
