A SCOTUS Opening

[CJD]

(10-27-2020, 09:02 AM)Mickeypoo Wrote: Fixed it for ya.  

The Democratic House already passed a stimulus back in May. 

It was essentially a continuation of what had already been passed at the beginning of the pandemic. 1200 dollar checks, 600 dollars per week additional for unemployment benefits, PPP loan money, protections for sick workers among other things to help people get through the pandemic. It was very large, 3 trillion dollars before being revised down to 2.2 trillion dollars, so there was definitely some negotiating room for the Republicans to cut some of the fat off, so to speak. Instead, the Republicans pretended the bill didn't exist and then crafted their own 300 billion dollar bill, which didn't even get off the Senate floor. Even if it did, that was never going to pass in the House because it was so insultingly small that it wouldn't have done much of anything for anyone.

After more negotiations, Trump went on Twitter and just cut off negotiations, before almost immediately back tracking once he saw how insanely unpopular (and unstable to the stock market) that tweet was.

Then Trump said to go big or go home, obviously beginning to fear his and Mitch's inability to pass a stimulus bill would be the death knell for his re-election campaign. He offered a 1.8 trillion dollar bill, but Nancy did not like it. I don't think we ever saw the details of the bill, but reports suggest that one of the main reasons Nancy did not like it was because it contained liability protections for businesses that had workers come back to work and then catch the virus. This liability protection was not expounded upon all that much because the bill was never introduced anywhere, but Nancy has gone on record about why she doesn't like the liability protections the Republicans want.

Quote:Now, one big – the two bookends of our differences right now, since you asked, one is state and local, and the other is liability. 
...

David Westin.  Madam Speaker, I would love it if you would want to negotiate this with me, but you’re not going to do that.  I recognize that.  But can you give me this sort of sense, when it comes to the liability, one of the bookends you described, is it binary?  That’s to say, is it all or nothing or can there be some wiggle room in between so there is some language the Republicans can accept, but it goes farther than what the current law is?

Speaker Pelosi.  Well, the – to understand the issue in this legislation, what Senator McConnell has in there is something that is not coronavirus centric.  It is for four years, it applies to all kinds of other things and it is not to the point.  So, that language should easily be changed.  You know, he is doing tort reform when we are trying to do safety in the workplace. 

Now, they have come to good language on OSHA, our safety provisions in the bill, but their overarching McConnell language negates those OSHA regulations.  So, we’re saying, if you believe that it does not negate it, write that into the language: nothing in this bill shall undermine the ability of OSHA.  That is a traditional thing that we do.  So, that’s one place.  Now, I do believe that if someone is honoring the OSHA provisions, having good working standards and the rest, that could be an admissible defense, should someone bring a case against them.  

You know, I think that there is a balance that can be struck, but it isn’t the McConnell language.  But we will have our language to them.  We’re working very hard to protect the workers but also be able to come to an agreement.

So Nancy was holding up that bill because she didn't like the language in it that seemed to negate OSHA standards. I imagine that they could have kept negotiating, reword the language a bit and then introduce the bill once both sides agr---

Wait, nevermind. McConnell already said he would not introduce the 1.8 trillion dollar bill to the Senate anyway. He says "My members think half a trillion dollars, highly targeted is the best way to go."

So, to summarize, to date, the Republicans haven't passed a single bill. The Democrats have already passed their opening offer with fat to cut, which the Republicans ignored, and the only thing the Republican Senate has offered is a piddly 300 billion dollar bill that would not be enough. The White House tried to step in and find an actual middle ground of 1.8 trillion dollars, but Nancy wanted some verbage changes before she accepted it and then McConnell shut it down in its entirety. They've been at a stand still ever since.

From my viewpoint, I don't know how you can blame Nancy for Mitch refusing to even entertain any offers above 500 billion dollars when the first bill (the CARES act) was 2 trillion dollars. He knows 500 billion isn't enough, but he doesn't care. He's holding up negotiations, even screwing up the White House's offer. And for what? Why does he not want to help the American people?