WASHINGTON – While negotiations between Congress Democrats and the Trump administration on pandemic relief remain stagnant, pressure is mounting on nervous scammers as they respond to voters’ inability of Washington to strike a deal in the midst of public health and economic crisis.
While it is not clear who will blame voters if the standoff does not produce weeks of economic relief when it wakes up, the stakes in the November elections are clear, especially in the fight for Senate control.
Keeping a slim 53-47 majority, House of Representatives’ Republicans have the risk of losing their seats in November, compared to only one Democrat – Alabama’s Doug Jones – who is considered vulnerable.
While Congress is trying to prove that it can govern as it overturns the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic downturn, GOP influence and a standoff between Democratic leaders and the White House threaten to thwart those efforts.
And the challengers of the First Chamber do not let the opportunity pass.
In Maine, Republican sen. Susan Collins is facing one of the toughest races of her career. She has advocated for, and helped create, another round of loans for small businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program. But the current crash has opened the door for her challenger, Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon, who was quick to blame Collins for “Washington’s failures.”
“For months, Susan Collins and Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to do what is good for the American people during a pandemic,” Gideon said in a statement to NBC News.
In South Carolina, Democrat Jaime Harrison attacked Republican Senator Lindsey Graham as an obstacle to relief. “The work of Sen. Graham – because this pandemic raged at the time and the economic devastation has diminished – has made the working families of South Carolina and small businesses less well,” said Manuel Bonder, coordinating spokesman for ” and campaign.
It’s a similar post against Republican insiders in Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, Montana and Texas.
The Senate Democrats’ campaign committee, the DSCC, is also considering what they see as a problem for Republican activists, launching a microsite accusing Kentucky Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of lacking a deal.
‘The millions of Americans in difficulty owe it to Mitch McConnell and Republicans of the House of Representatives for refusing the lifeline that helped keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. “Voters will not forget how Republicans in the House of Representatives turned their backs on those in need during this crisis and blocked unemployment,” said DSCC Rapporteur Director Helen Kalla.
While McConnell has been largely on the side of the negotiations, he has repeatedly publicly insisted that he support another round of relief and encourage a deal, but he now also has the new executive mandates of the president embraced, meant to try to bypass Congress, and blame the Democrats for inaction.
‘I had hoped the House would spend this week turning a major agreement into law, but so for the country, sadly for struggling Americans, the Speaker of the House and the Democratic leader of the Senate decided that we would deliver nothing from it – none of it, “McConnell said Monday in the House of Representatives.
The $ 2.2 trillion CARES Act was a blow to trouble fighting GOP and one of the most popular pieces of legislation to pass Congress, according to two GOP campaign actors who have seen internal party interviews.
In Maine, public opinion polls show that support for Collins increased after the CARES Act was implemented, bringing it within certain polls within the margin of error.
But the lack of progress in a COVID-19 relief deal, in which the administration appears to be reluctantly bending over $ 1 trillion, has put vulnerable Republicans in a difficult position.
“The most important thing that could help Trump in his re-election is to pump more than $ 3 trillion into the economy over the next three months,” said a Democratic aide to the House of Representatives. “The fact that we will not do it when Democrats are ready to give it to him is disturbing.”
The president’s approval for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic continues to hover in the low 40s, with 42 percent strongly approving as something approved according to the latest NBC News | Survey Monkey Weekly Tracking Poll released Tuesday. But only 32 percent of aspiring independent voters approve of the president’s response to the pandemic.
The president’s position poses another threat to GOP senators, as Trump is currently pursuing former Vice President Joe Biden in key field trip states that also have competitive senators, including Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina. , according to public interviews.
Now, many Republicans who have previously lost executive orders have shifted their voices mostly in hopes that the President’s executive orders can give Republicans a little impetus, allowing some coverage ‘to play the role of centrist.
“If you’re a Republican Senate candidate, you can point to the executive orders as something that has been done in the meantime and you can request an agreement that is reasonable – in between what Democrats and Republicans have demanded,” he said. one GOP strategist who was given anonymity to speak freely about senate races.
Collins, who accused Democrats of blocking a short-term expansion of extended unemployment benefits, said: ‘I hope the actions of President Democratic leaders will encourage them to negotiate seriously to meet a need for a need to reach an agreement. helping families, seniors, schools, businesses, communities & the USPS with this ongoing pandemic. ”
But Democrats also bet the executive orders on backfire, calling them unconstitutional and ineffective.
“Republican senators will have a hard time defending Donald Trump’s bulls — executing mandates as their constituencies are evicted and fighting to pay their bills after he slashed the unemployment benefits they used to survive,” Democratic strategist said. Jonathan Kott said. “The worst thing for them is that they have to defend it for three months. That’s a long time to look your constituencies in the eye and convince them that these executive missions will help them survive a pandemic. ‘
In North Carolina, Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham, who opposes Republican sen. Thom Tillis executed, also “Washington’s failure,” noting that the president’s executive order will take over funds from FEMA’s Hurricane Fund to pay for part of the unemployment benefits. North Carolina was hit by Isaiah last week and is in high hurricane during hurricane season. Cunningham accused Tillis for letting unemployment benefits “expire in the first place. “
Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., Convened a group of four Democrats and four Republicans over the weekend for shadowing talks. He claims that the issue goes far beyond politics.
“If this inconvenience continues and literally nothing happens, it will only grow more of apology, more anger, more divisions and even an even less diminishing confidence in our operating system, which is unhealthy for everyone – Democrats and Republicans, founders and challengers , ”Said Phillips.
