No deal is worse than a bad deal. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images Every day for the past 27 days, the United States has reported over 100,000 new cases of COVID-19. More Americans were hospitalized with COVID last night than ever before. Epidemiologists are warning that the nation is on pace to see 4,000 COVID deaths a day by year’s end.
Graphic: @JStein_WaPo/Twitter Notably absent from the list is another round of $1,200 stimulus checks. The cost of the reallocation, in real terms, is that it may limit the incoming Biden administration’s discretion to revamp the Fed’s lending programs. Put concretely: If the Fed’s lending facilities retain their congressional blessing, a Treasury Secretary Yellen would be better able to push the central bank to lend to states and municipalities at extremely lenient terms. As is, the Fed’s lending programs offer credit to these entities on less favorable terms than private investors do.
All and all, this is a pretty suboptimal piece of legislation. But it is also a bill that would immeasurably improve millions of Americans’ lives. An extra $1,200 a month from the federal government would help a great many unemployed Americans plug the holes in their household budgets; $25 billion in housing assistance will keep many families in their homes. The $16 billion for vaccine development, testing, and tracing is essential for reducing the overall death toll of the raging pandemic.
Meanwhile, if Democrats do sweep the Georgia runoffs and secure Senate control, they will be free to pass a new stimulus, building on what was passed during the lame-duck session. And that stimulus will get the nation closer to full employment if December and January’s job losses are tempered by a $908 billion aid package.
The consequences of the pending liability shield are similarly opaque. The notion that the bill’s passage could give the GOP an advantage in Georgia’s special election is plausible but too speculative to justify the withholding of desperately needed fiscal support.
Liability protection ought to be a dealbreaker
Didn’t McConnell already put the kibosh on it?
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