The deadline is fast approaching for Congress to pass a Covid relief bill that, if signed into law, would greatly help the lives of millions of Americans. The bill contains $288 billion in PPP for small businesses, $180 in additional unemployment benefits, $160 billion in aid for state and local governments, $82 billion for education, $45 billion for transportation, $35 billion for healthcare provider relief and $16 billion for vaccine development and distribution. It would also extend the moratorium on evictions for people who cannot pay their rent.
By no means is this a perfect bill - I personally would like to have seen something closer to $1.8 trillion - but it's better than doing nothing. Yet because it lacks the $1200 stimulus checks that went out in an earlier bill this past spring, some progressives are threatening to withhold their support. I'll give you one guess who they might be.
Bernie Sanders, the man for whom no compromise is ever permissible, even when people are suffering, is threatening to vote no if there's no stimulus check. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is considering whether she will support it. How big of her.
I have one message for any Democrat threatening to torpedo this relief bill: KNOCK IT OFF! It's time to face facts. The ship is sailing and first class is booked. There are still some cabin-class rooms available but time is of the essence. If progressives in the House kill this bill, shame on them. They will have the dubious honor of having to explain to their constituents why they passed up on half a loaf in the hopes of getting a promissory note on a full one.
And as long as we're being honest here, a lot of this is Nancy Pelosi's fault. A month before the election, she could've had a Covid relief package that would've passed both chambers, but held out for a much more ambitious $2 trillion deal that was all but dead on arrival in the Senate. That mistake likely cost a few Democratic House members their seats in November.
This has always been my biggest problem with progressives: their heart is in the right place, but their heads are stuck up their asses. People like Bernie and AOC don't live in reality. They live in the "what if" world instead of the "what can" world. This is why I didn't support Sanders four years ago when he ran for president. His idealism, while laudable, was never workable in a town that chews dreams up and spits them out faster that you can say filibuster.
If there's one thing Joe Biden must do once he's sworn in, it's to give up any hope of trying to appease the Left. He needs to work with centrist Democrats and reasonable Republicans in the Senate to come up with legislation that will pass that chamber and then let Pelosi sort it out in the House. It won't be easy. With only 222 seats, Democrats don't have much margin for error in their majority. But that's Pelosi's problem. Biden needs to prove to the country that he was the right choice. To do that he has to negotiate with both parties, regardless of what happens in the January runoff elections.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on this last-chance opportunity to help a suffering nation. Democrats can't afford to be stupid here. There will be plenty of chances for additional bites at the apple down the road.
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