Democrats need to play coronavirus hardball

An effective response depends on it

Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

The COVID-19 economic crisis is entering its third week, and still the federal government has passed no big rescue package. The Republican Senate leadership is trying to whip up votes for a mostly garbage plan. It would cut checks of $1,200 to most adults, plus $500 for children, which is at least not nothing, but also would create a $500 billion slush fund for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to use on whatever corporate bailouts he deems necessary, with no conditions or requirements.

It is both far short of what is necessary, and wildly unfair. So far Senate Democrats are putting up a surprising amount of resistance. On Sunday night they filibustered the bill, meaning it would need 60 votes to pass. It went down 47-47 because five Republican senators are in coronavirus quarantine. On Monday they filibustered it again, though by a narrower margin. Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi released a sketch of a plan which is a lot better than the Mnuchin slush fund, but arguably still short of what's needed. Democrats in the House and the Senate will need to agree to a very aggressive plan and stick to it, if they want to save America as a whole.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.