GOP gonna GOP

Negotiations to craft a massive stimulus package slowed to a crawl Sunday amid sharp partisan disagreements over worker protections, corporate bailouts and how many hundreds of billions of dollars need to be pumped into the faltering U.S. economy.

[...]

Democrats blocked a motion to proceed to a $1.8 trillion Senate GOP stimulus package on a party-line vote of 47 to 47.

The setback left Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fuming, as it now appears less likely negotiators can reach a deal before financial markets open Monday morning.

  The Hill

Maybe McConnell should get his party to actually help people other than themselves and their donors.

Lawmakers are also feeling increasingly anxious about their own health as they hang around the Capitol.

“I don’t touch anything without this,” said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), holding up a Clorox wipe.

The 83-year-old senator said he’s been careful not to go near his grandkids.

For many senators, the announcement Sunday that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tested positive for the coronavirus was a frightening wakeup call. He had used the Senate gym only hours before.

And why the hell did he do that? While he was waiting for test results to see if he had the virus! What a dick.

Two other Republicans, Sens. Mike Lee (Utah) and Mitt Romney (Utah), announced Sunday they would isolate themselves out of caution, joining Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.).

Lawmakers are eager to leave town but know McConnell will keep the Senate in session until they pass stimulus legislation.

And I don't want to hear any whining from Mitch. He took his three-day weekend last weekend when they could have been working on it.

Democrats said Republicans backtracked on a tentative agreement to substantially increase unemployment insurance.

“We had an agreement last night that they cut back today,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) after the failed procedural vote.

Schumer later panned the Senate legislation as “a highly partisan bill,” even after it was drafted following hours of bipartisan talks on Friday and Saturday.

“The legislation has many problems. At the top of the list, it includes a large corporate bailout with no protections for workers and virtually no oversight,” he said on the Senate floor after Democrats blocked the bill.

[...]

Now the Senate talks are in limbo, giving House Democrats more time to draft their own bill to counter the Senate GOP plan.

Republicans think Senate Democrats blocked the bill to give Pelosi more leverage in the negotiations. They accused Democrats of trying to cram the stimulus bill with long-sought liberal priorities that wouldn’t otherwise have a chance of becoming law.

Works for me. Trump has mismanaged this thing so badly that the serious basic flaws in our system are popping out all over.

As the hours passed, each side ramped up its demands and backtracked on earlier offers.

Negotiators at one point had agreed to a tentative deal to provide $250 billion in rebate checks — $1,000 for every adult and $500 for each child — matched by $250 billion in expanded unemployment insurance.

But by Sunday, Republicans reverted to their initial call to mail out $1,200 rebate checks at a total cost of $300 billion.

Democrats said the GOP offer on unemployment insurance was inadequate.

The Senate bill as drafted would provide three months of unemployment insurance. Democrats want at least four months, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Republicans said they were stunned that Democrats would not accept what they called a “generous” plan.

And they damned well better be demanding something a whole lot more generous.

Disagreements also blossomed over corporate loans to distressed industries and economic relief for state and local governments.

Senate Republicans on Saturday asked for $500 billion for the Treasury Department to expand a Federal Reserve corporate bailout fund to help airlines, hotel chains, energy companies and other industries facing a credit crunch because of the economic crisis.

I see they're trying a replay of the 2008 scandalous deal.

While the money would be used for loans and not cash grants, Democrats balked because Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would have broad latitude to distribute the relief and CEOs wouldn’t be required to keep workers on payroll in exchange for help.

Democrats also objected to what they called “weak” restrictions on corporate stock buybacks, which Mnuchin could waive.

Democrats upped their requests by asking for $450 billion to go to an emergency supplemental spending bill to fund hospitals and variety of federal departments and agencies.

The request was nearly double the $242 billion Senate Republicans proposed putting in the supplemental spending package and nearly 10 times the amount the White House requested on Tuesday.

[...]

Another impasse is over how much money to send to states.

Senate Democrats initially asked for a whopping $750 billion for a state stabilization fund, a request that stunned Republican negotiators.

But $500 billion to airlines and hotel chains was no problem?

Democrats also asked for additional Occupational Safety and Health Administration funds for workers and for the Department of Education to take over monthly payments for student loan borrowers and to cancel $10,000 in student debt for each borrower.

Ten grand is not enough.

Both sides have agreed to provide at least $350 billion and perhaps more for a small-business relief fund that would provide federally guaranteed loans to small businesses and forgive the debts if employers keep their workers on payroll.

UPDATE:

There is zero chance he wouldn't take it.