More stimulus relief likely to come after next stimulus checks

The last major round of stimulus relief took approximately nine months to come into existence. Negotiations were up and down, back-and-forth, and seemed to be drug out months beyond what was needed.

But this time, Democrats are in control and have access to the budget reconciliation route.

By going this route, Democrats can essentially nullify the votes of Republicans and can pass legislation with a simple majority.

The simple majority would require every single Democrat to vote in favor of the stimulus relief bill which is not necessarily guaranteed.

We heard opposition from some Democrats about the size of the relief and some expressed reluctance to passing non-targeted stimulus checks.

But the Senate just made a move so that they can make the stimulus checks more targeted this next round which I believe is a strong indicator that all Democrats will get on board.

Republicans were also on board with that measure so there still may be a chance that bipartisan negotiations can take place which would not require the reconciliation route.

It’s hard to tell.

One thing that is clear is that some lawmakers believe that more stimulus aid will be around the corner after this next round passes.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn told Yahoo Finance that the $1.9 trillion price tag is enough to “rescue this economy,” but “should be bigger than that in the long run.”

“That’s enough to rescue this economy. We’re going to have to stimulate the economy later on,” said Clyburn.

Clyburn stated that after this initial package is approved, Americans can expect even more stimulus aid during Biden’s presidency.

This aid would include investment in infrastructure, healthcare, and broadband programs. (We should hear more about these investments this month when Biden addresses a joint session of Congress.)

If the goal is to pass more spending legislation, one has to wonder if Democrats also anticipate on going to reconciliation route with those future measures as well.

Typically, Congress only has one opportunity to use the reconciliation method but because Congress did not adopt a budget resolution in 2020, they might be able to use it twice.

Constantly resorting to this method could result in more expedient passing of these bills but it also could cause long-lasting conflict with Republicans.

So that will be something to monitor as time goes by.

H/T

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