Stefani Reynolds / Getty Images
One of the most surreal things about Washington’s response to the coronavirus crisis is that Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have been essentially forced to spend the past four months fighting tooth and nail to help reelect Donald Trump. With each relief measure, Democrats have been pressuring the White House and Republicans in Congress for a stronger federal response to the outbreak, demanding that Capitol Hill increase unemployment benefits, aid to small businesses, aid for states and COVID tests. Their efforts have not always been successful. But his victories have saved the country from many difficulties.
Politically, these efforts have probably helped the President as much as anyone. After all, a minimalist approach to the crisis would likely have left the country in worse shape than it is now, and would have further dampened the country’s already damp mood before November. As of mid-June, 31.4 million Americans were on the unemployment charts. Imagine how angry those people would be and what the economy would look like if they didn’t receive the additional $ 600 a week in unemployment benefits that Democrats put into the CARES Act. Trump may not love Chuck and Nancy. But they have done everything possible to save the president from himself.
It has always seemed unlikely that Republicans would return the favor if Joe Biden were elected in November. Under the leadership of Mitch McConnnell, the Republican Party spent the Great Recession and its aftermath blocking the Obama administration’s efforts to revive the economy, and there is no particular reason to suppose that they would act differently this time. Conservatives have already begun to complain about deficit spending and appear to be bent on cutting those crucial unemployment benefits, suggesting that they would try to take down any serious stimulus effort in 2021. Even if the party lost the Senate, its old playbook could still be withdrawn. 2009 to slow down and obstruct White House plans whenever possible.
Fear of republican sabotage is an important part of why some Democrats have wanted to put coronavirus aid on autopilot. When the House was crafting the HEROES Act, its $ 3 billion stab in a Round Four aid bill, in May, more progressive members of the caucus lobbied to include so-called automatic stabilizers, which would maintain unemployment benefits. improved and food aid in operation as long as the country was still grappling with mass unemployment. Pelosi even supported the idea, before he allegedly abandoned it for the price, to the bitter disappointment of many.
Fortunately, Senate Democrats have picked up the idea of the automatic stabilizer from the courtroom floor. This week Schumer and Oregon Senator Ron Wyden unveiled the United States Workforce Rescue Act, which would keep the CARES Act’s large unemployment benefits effective July, when they expire, and it will only gradually reduce them as the economy recovers. Payments would remain at $ 600 in one state until its unemployment rate fell below 11 percent, then it would begin to decrease by $ 100 for each point of unemployment decline, decreasing entirely once it fell below the 6 percent.
As a short-term policy issue, these types of self-triggers make obvious sense. We have no idea when the coronavirus crisis will end, and putting an arbitrary expiration date on aid runs the risk of interrupting people before they really can (or should) go back to work. Republicans have argued that keeping the $ 600 payments flowing will make it harder for companies wanting to reopen their workers to rehire, but there is no evidence that it really is (after all, the country added 4.8 million jobs in June and the unemployment rate fell to just over 11 percent, while these benefits were still available.) It is better to make sure that people have enough money to buy food and pay the rent until things really start to go back to normal.
Politically, the American Workforce Rescue Act also suggests that Democrats understand that Republicans cannot necessarily be trusted to cooperate and pass the necessary relief legislation if Joe Biden is president. Whether Schumer and his caucus really win this fight, that’s a good dose of realism.
In the long term, the proposal also represents a major philosophical shift when it comes to economic policy. Automatic stabilizers are a long overdue idea to protect the country from recession. Rather than relying on Congress to negotiate an ad hoc stimulus package every time an economic disaster strikes, it would be better to have the support of households and businesses set up as soon as necessary. The bill that Schumer and Wyden are introducing would not make their automatic triggers permanent. But it would be a demonstration of the concept and would suggest that Democratic leaders might be open to eventually writing something similar in the law forever. That could help us avoid some of these surreal political fights in the future.
For more information on Slate’s news coverage, subscribe to the Political Cabinet at Apple podcasts or listen below.
