The "relief" package

The relief package they're coming up with isn't even the pathetic drip you think it is. It's less.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Democrats proposed the $3.4 trillion Heroes Act in May and then amended their request to a $2.2. trillion relief bill in September.

[...]

The White House and Senate Republicans countered with the $1.1 trillion HEALS Act they introduced in late July. The White House increased its offer to $1.8 trillion before the election, but Democrats rejected it as insufficient.

[...]

Emerging from his office late Saturday night, Schumer predicted both the House and Senate will vote on the package — a combination of a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill and a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill — on Sunday.

  The Hill

From $2.2 trillion to $900 billion. Quite a comedown.

At around 9 p.m. Republicans sent word to Schumer that they would accept language resolving the dispute over the Federal Reserve’s lending facilities, according to the GOP aides.

The compromise will sweep out the $429 billion in unspent CARES Act funding for the Federal Reserve’s credit lending facilities and repurpose it as an offset for a new $900 billion coronavirus relief bill, GOP sources said. The deal will close four Federal Reserve credit lending facilities created by the CARES Act and will prevent the Fed from standing up replica facilities in the future without congressional approval.

[...]

A Democratic source familiar with the talks said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had already said he would return the $429 billion in unspent CARES money to the general fund.

So, if I read that right, the Fed's ability to take any action to mitigate an economic disaster is being choked down, the original relief package has been reduced by $429 billion that didn't get spent, and the current one is offset by $429 billion, making the measley $900 billion proposal actually allot only something more than a half billion. Nice work, Democrats.

Trump, at least, was on the right side of this one.

"Why isn't Congress giving our people a Stimulus Bill? It wasn't their fault, it was the fault of China. GET IT DONE, and give them more money in direct payments," Trump tweeted.

 

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

No, but the banksters will get a little boost.

UPDATE: