It appears that Donald Trump is so furious with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that he needs a go-between. Perhaps, the president will send his surrogate to the Irish Dinner this week. Certainly, the president will not attend nor will Vice President Mike Pence.
Some of the Republicans want a payroll tax cut. McConnell has made clear he “detests” pursuing this particular policy. He thinks that would boost the federal debt and deficits. He has said many conservative GOP senators share his view. Still, he will listen to what the White House had in mind:
‘Thank you @SenateGOP! pic.twitter.com/XysOvXbTMF
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 10, 2020’
Thank you @SenateGOP! pic.twitter.com/XysOvXbTMF
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 10, 2020
‘Great meeting on Capitol Hill with the @SenateGOP! pic.twitter.com/eNB8zMRCup
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 10, 2020’
Great meeting on Capitol Hill with the @SenateGOP! pic.twitter.com/eNB8zMRCup
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 10, 2020
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had negative opinions of the payroll tax cut idea. Instead, top House Democrats said they would move on a relief package for coronavirus exposures. But those would have to meet marrow restrictions.
Pelosi put forth a package of unemployment insurance plus food steps and other necessities. Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said, according to The Washington Post:
‘One thing is clear. The American people are the ones who will need the relief if Congress acts — not the millionaires, not the billionaires, not the multinational corporations. We need to put families first.’
Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee Don Beyer (D-VA) was not keen on the payroll tax cut. He said that the markers for suggested economic growth might stall or even pull the country back down toward a real recession. Of course, that was speculation:
‘Stopping all this depends on stopping the spread of the disease. That’s where the priority must be. We don’t want people having to choose between a paycheck and preventing the spread of the disease.’
Democrats responded angrily to the president’s criticism. Jeffries wrote:
‘We may be heading into a recession, and Donald Trump wants to lecture us when he spent the weekend at his Florida golf resort … hanging out with the billionaires boys club in the middle of a global epidemic? So we’re not going to be lectured by Donald Trump about leadership when he’s failed to show a scintilla of it in the midst of this whole crisis.’
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), said Tuesday in response to a question that any solution on paid family leave would have to be legislated:
‘I think whatever we do, whatever package we look, it would have to be legislativel. There’s a lot of different options on the table we’re talking about … I want us to be smart about what we do and help those who need the help, and so we will look at all different options, we’ll take it through committee, and we’ll be prepared to take action in coming days.’
Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal (D-MA) said on his way out of the meeting:
‘It’s a public health issue, so there are tax consequences to it, because we think that you can do something with testing, we think you can do something with unemployment insurance and, the third, paid family leave. We hope that we will have something in the next day or so that actually we can build off of.’
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
