Senators making last push for more stimulus checks

Although stimulus checks have been left out of the latest proposal, some senators are making a last minute push for more stimulus checks.

The push is led by Senator Bernie Sanders along with five other Democratic senators.

“We very much appreciate the hard work that has gone into the current $908 billion proposal being drafted by a number of Democratic and Republican Senators,” they wrote in a letter.

“But, simply stated, given the horrific extent of the current crisis and the desperation that working families all over this country are experiencing, this proposal does not go anywhere near far enough.”

The senators joining Bernie Sanders include: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

If you’ve been following the stimulus negotiations, it’s no surprise that the senators would be pushing for more stimulus checks.

And you might think that an initiative led by Bernie Sanders would not stand a chance with Republicans but that’s not necessarily the case — these are not the only senators who have voiced strong support for more checks, though.

Even Republican senator Josh Hawley, said the relief bill needs to include direct payments for families and individuals.

“I said, ‘I think it’s vital that any relief include direct payments, and I’m not gonna vote for it if it doesn’t.’ And I also urged [the president] to veto any bill that did not have direct payments in it,” Hawley said.

So there are some very strong supporters of more direct payments who are willing to veto in the event no checks go out.

At this point, it still does not sound like there is enough support to send out direct payments within this proposed package and before 2021.

But it’s not that far of a stretch to think that support could be gained soon.

One of the key facts about this new proposal is that it reallocates a lot of funding from the funds left over from the Cares Act.

In fact, this proposal would only require $348 billion in new funding.

So even for the Republicans who do not favor spending a lot, this bill would require less funding than their $500 billion proposals they made over the last few months.

I think one major issue is the liability shields, though.

Many Democrats do not want these liability shields that will provide protection for businesses from coronavirus related lawsuits.

But if they want the stimulus checks included, they will almost certainly have to compromise on the liability shields because those have been a major component of aid for Republicans since the very beginning.

Democrats may have external factors on their side as they make a push for stimulus checks.

The job growth is slowing according to the Labor Department and last month saw the smallest amount of jobs created since the recovery began.

So as more lockdowns occur and we see recovery slowing down, there will likely be a stronger case for more checks to go out.

But it could take all the way until January for those stats to create enough uncertainty to justify more checks for a lot of lawmakers.

So with the way things are going it’s looking like the stimulus proposal will not contain stimulus checks but will likely contain something like the following elements for now:

• $288 billion in small business aid such as Paycheck Protection Program loans
• $240 billion in state and local government relief
• $180 billion to fund a $300 per week supplemental unemployment benefit through March.
• $16 billion into vaccine distribution, testing and contact tracing
• $82 billion into education
• $45 billion into transportation.
• It would also allocate funds for rental assistance, child care and broadband.

H/T

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