Since the election, we have not heard a lot from President Trump or from the White House regarding the next stimulus package.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took over negotiations and most of the information that we have heard has come from him.
But President Trump this weekend voiced clear support for lawmakers to get another relief package finished.
“Congress must now do a Covid Relief Bill,” Trump tweeted.
“Needs Democrats support. Make it big and focused. Get it done!”
It is very encouraging to hear the president emphasize the need to pass a bill quickly — and a large bill at that.
(With all of the legal actions being taken to contest some of the election results in different states, one had to wonder if the president would continue to push for stimulus aid.)
It’s also interesting that he is continuing to support a large stimulus package.
From the early summer he has been a supporter of some of the larger proposals including those bordering on $2 trillion.
His support for these large packages frustrated a lot of Republicans who preferred smaller deals priced at around $500 billion.
But the president also mentioned that the package should be focused which sounds similar to the targeted approach that Republicans like Mitch McConnell prefer.
I’ve mentioned before that if the president lost the election, he could help improve his legacy by focusing his efforts on getting a robust stimulus package finalized during a lame duck session.
That would not prove to be an easy task but I think it would make a lot of Americans respect the president a lot more.
The biggest issue for the president will likely be winning over the support of Republicans.
I get the feeling that all of the progress that was being made with them through the fall with respect to approving a large deal began to fall apart after the elections.
The other issue for the president will be getting Democrats to agree to a package that could be substantially smaller to something they could pass if they were to sweep the election run-off in Georgia.
While they likely face an uphill battle to sweep that run-off, they may want to hold off until the results come back in January.
That’s because in the event that they were to win, they could potentially double the size of a stimulus package.
Remember, Biden has mentioned supporting up to a $3 trillion stimulus deal and has been pretty clear that he would prefer something quite substantial.
“We must spend whatever it takes, without delay, to meet public health needs and deal with the mounting economic consequence,” Biden said.
So while it is nice to hear support coming from the president on another stimulus deal, there are still some pretty large obstacles in the way that might make it impossible for a new package to go out at least until January 2021.
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Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.