Businesses are going belly up, tens of millions have been laid off and, by some measures, the U.S. seems headed for another Great Depression. But Republicans surveying the wreckage aren’t ready for another round of coronavirus aid, instead urging a “pause”, The Associated Press writes.
It’s a position based on a confluence of factors, as polls show GOP voters think the government is already doing enough. Republicans on Capitol Hill are divided over the best approach. Billions approved by Congress have yet to be spent. And it’s also not clear what President Donald Trump wants to do next, if anything, to juice the economy — his payroll tax cut idea hasn’t gained any traction on Capitol Hill.
For these and other reasons, GOP leaders see an unfolding crisis that does not yet cry out for further action.
“There’s just a pragmatic piece to this, which is, if we’re going to do another bill, let’s get into June and July so we know how people are re-emerging,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who gave up his leadership post last year to take the top GOP job on the Financial Services Committee.
The political balancing act comes as the long-dormant deficit-hawk wing of the GOP lumbers back to life, recoiling from the House Democratic proposal to spend another $3 trillion in taxpayer money. Yet many Republicans concede there is risk to standing pat at a time of massive unemployment, financial struggles for local governments and growing COVID-19 caseloads, particularly with the November election fast approaching.
Despite their distaste for further negotiations with Democrats, many Republicans privately see passage of another coronavirus measure as inevitable.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a proponent of the “pause,” said Tuesday that Republicans are “taking a look at what we’ve already done. And we’ve added about $3 trillion to the national debt, and assessing the effectiveness of that before deciding to go forward.”
Yet McConnell also cracked open the door, cautiously, to more legislation, provided that it is “narrowly targeted.”
“I’m in discussion, we all are, with the administration. If we reach a decision along with the administration to move to another phase, that’ll be the time to interact with the Democrats,” he said.
Still, recent polls show GOP voters are far more likely to be satisfied with the government’s virus response than Democrats. They are less fearful of a second wave of cases as states loosen stay-at-home orders, and they are not clamoring for more aid.
Conservative senators from solidly red states argue that Washington has done enough, and they have been squaring off in meetings with GOP moderates and pragmatists siding with Democrats. The moderates are supportive of fiscal relief for states and local governments, help for the Postal Service, additional jobless aid, and further provisions on testing and tracing for the virus, which has already claimed more than 80,000 lives in the U.S.
The conservative senators have influence with Trump, but he doesn’t share their fiscal instincts, AP notes.
The President and deputies like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have signaled a willingness to deliver aid to state and local governments — funding that is a core demand of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. And Trump at one point even floated a massive debt-financed effort on infrastructure, leaving many conservatives aghast.
Trump himself has cautioned Republicans against drawing a red line against state and local aid. The President is talking to governors, noted a top House GOP leadership aide who requested anonymity to describe private conversations. The aide emphasized that the President remains extremely popular in most Republican congressional districts and still gives members a lot of cover by going along with him.
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