Stimulus checks could still happen, Trump ready to sign into law

Yesterday was a bit of a wild day for stimulus negotiation progress.

That’s because President Trump unexpectedly tweeted that his representatives should stop negotiating until after the election.

“I have 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 also requested that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to ‘focus full time’ on confirming Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

This news spread like wildfire and we even saw the stock market take a nosedive (it has since made a pretty good rebound).

But just when people thought all hope was lost, the president also sent out additional tweets that announced he was ready to sign bills for more stimulus checks or more stimulus aid in different forms.

For example, he tweeted about more aid for the paycheck protection program and airline payroll support:

“The House & Senate should IMMEDIATELY Approve 25 Billion Dollars for Airline Payroll Support, & 135 Billion Dollars for Paycheck Protection Program for Small Business. Both of these will be fully paid for with unused funds from the Cares Act. Have this money. I will sign now!”

He also stated that he would sign a standalone bill for more stimulus checks:

“If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY. I am ready to sign right now. Are you listening Nancy? @MarkMeadows@senatemajldr@kevinomccarthy@SpeakerPelosi@SenSchumer“

Some people claimed this was just the president trying to correct for his prior tweet after he saw the impact on the stock market.

I’m sure that played a major role in the timing of his tweets but if you have been following the stimulus check development closely over the past few months you know that this is not the first time that the president has offered to sign a bill specifically for something like stimulus checks.

And this is where things get complicated and extremely political.

Democrat leaders like Pelosi want all of the aid to be included in one large package, likely valued at around $2.2 trillion, an amount that Republicans have expressed they will never agree to.

She has explicitly stated that she is not interested in a piecemeal solution.

This is presumably to help her negotiating stance since many of her requested items would struggle to be passed if they were standalone items.

For example, Republicans would likely be okay with passing some additional aid for local and state governments but not the level of aid that Pelosi is demanding.

The same logic applies to unemployment benefits.

I personally have an issue with the Democrat approach here because they have included items from the beginning in their stimulus package that had nothing to do with the impact from coronavirus.

These are things like student loan forgiveness, and I don’t think you can make fair progress when you have loaded up a package with non-essential wish-list items from the start.

(The Democrats did trim their initial offering significantly.)

At the same time, the Republicans eagerness to confirm a Supreme Court justice in a short amount of time (who will have a lifetime appointment) has certainly complicated matters.

Most Americans believe that the Senate should prioritize a stimulus package going out to the public over appointing a new justice.

Then you drop in the bomb of the president catching coronavirus amidst all of this and you have a true mess.

Ultimately, I think the blame falls on all parties involved for not passing a package to this point.

I’m in favor of piecemeal legislation since that would at least get stimulus checks and small business aid out to millions of people who desperately need it right now.

I just don’t like the idea of making perfect the enemy of good.

Hopefully, we’ll see some of this chaos subside in the coming days or weeks but if history is any indication there may just be more wild rides in store for us.

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