Schumer Thinks Republican Stimulus Plan “Emaciated”
This is my stimulus update for Thursday, September 3.
What Are Republicans Doing? (Skinny Bill)
Tomorrow the Labor Department will be releasing its August jobs report and next week the Senate will be back in session, likely debating the new Republican stimulus bill which has been reported to be as small as $500 billion.
So something that I have been musing about here, we have the $1 trillion HEALS Act, which is really a series of several different bills, and now we have the Republicans cobbling together this smaller bill that some have called a “skinny” bill, we saw a draft “skinny” bill a couple weeks ago from the Republicans, now they’re working on something that may be a modification of that bill, from what it sounds like, or potentially an entirely different skinny bill, whatever the case, I’m not expecting the bill that Republicans are working on right now and will supposedly bring to the Senate floor next week to be materially different from the draft skinny bill we’ve already seen.
I’ve seen some other folks here on YouTube make a big deal about the Republican bill that will be brought to the floor next week, it’s not going anywhere. It’s a messaging bill, it’s not a godsend.
There will be a lot of ugliness and words thrown in Congress as the Senate comes back next week and the House the week after and all we can do is through it all cross our fingers that a deal will get done, but it’s not going to be in the Republican bill next week, I’ll tell you that much.
They’re going even smaller than the HEALS Act, as small as $500 billion, could be more, but definitely not anything the Democrats would entertain, and today on CNBC Squawk Box Becky Quick asked Republican Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota why the Republicans are going down in dollars with this new bill, what’s the point of that, here’s the clip:
Becky Quick: From what I’ve heard, that skinnier package is something closer to half a trillion dollars. Normally when you’re in negotiations with sides, you know, the side that’s at the bottom comes up a little on the side that’s at the top comes down a little you guys are taking the floor and cutting it in half. And you’re saying that that is something that you think you might get consensus among Republicans. That sounds to me like we are a lot further away from getting any sort of a deal done between Democrats and Republicans.
Kevin Cramer: Well, that’s a great point. You’re exactly right, Becky. What we’re doing right now is trying to find the polar position that we start with, obviously realizing that in a negotiation, and in a compromised situation, you probably gonna lose some Republicans on one side and some Democrats on the other side and the middle is gonna hopefully be big enough to pass something that’s meaningful and that matters to people.
So what Senator Cramer said is that this bill is Republicans’ attempt to find their polar position, their floor to start with. Reading between the lines here, I think what’s going on is that there still remains an internal division among Republicans with respect to more stimulus. I think there are Republicans who are not yet sold on the $1 trillion HEALS Act.
They look at the deficit, they look at the new CBO projections from yesterday projecting a federal budget deficit of $3.3 trillion in 2020, more than triple the shortfall recorded in 2019. That’s more than twice the largest level on record and amounts to 16% of GDP, the highest ratio since 1945.
Schumer Calls Republican Bill “Emaciated”
So Republicans are still trying to find their floor within their own conference, they’re trying to see if they can get their party behind a bill smaller than the HEALS Act to see if they can at least be unified on that, but will they even have the 60 votes necessary to take it to a final vote, I don’t know, we’ll have to see what happens next week.
And like I said, Democrats just won’t go for this. This morning Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, wrote a letter to his Democratic colleagues stating, “According to reports, the Republicans are now moving even further in the wrong direction. In the upcoming session, Leader McConnell and the White House may cut their original, inadequate, $1 trillion ‘skinny’ bill in half. Republicans may call their proposal ‘skinny,’ but it would be more appropriate to call it ‘emaciated.’ Their proposal appears to be completely inadequate and, by every measure, fails to meet the needs of the American people. With no money for rental assistance, no money for nutrition assistance, and no money for state and local services, the census, or safe elections, Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans would be making another unacceptable and ineffective attempt at providing relief.”
Here’s the full letter if you want to read it for yourself. I suspect we will see more words like this in the coming weeks as things come to a head not only to avoid a government shutdown but to provide relief for millions of Americans in another stimulus bill.
Also, yesterday Schumer along with Ron Wyden continued to criticize Trump’s memorandum on the payroll tax as Senate Democrats continue to seek to overturn it, which they won’t, of course, because they’d need Republican support to do so, which they won’t get.
North Carolina Stimulus for Parents
Previously I mentioned the North Carolina stimulus check for parents, it looks like yesterday the North Carolina Senate passed a $1 billion bill that would give North Carolina households with parents of children 17 and younger a stimulus check for $335, ostensibly to help with the costs of remote learning.
This bill now moves from the North Carolina Senate to the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Unemployment Update
Today being Thursday, the Department of Labor released its weekly jobless claims report and for the week ending August 29, 881,000 Americans applied for jobless benefits. If that number sounds low to you, that’s because it is.
Beginning with today’s report, the Department of Labor changed its methodology in how it adjusts for seasonality in the numbers. Regardless though the fuller picture of what unemployment looks like in the United States will be seen tomorrow when the Department of Labor releases its August jobs report.
In terms of Trump’s unemployment memorandum, yesterday FEMA approved Delaware for the $300-per-week grant.
That makes forty-five states that have been approved with Nevada just submitting its application this week, Kansas waiting to hear back, and New Jersey, despite having submitted its application on August 26, still has not received approval, so it will be resubmitting its application today. Washington, D.C. finally said this week that it will be submitting its application next week. And Nebraska still hasn’t indicated one way or the other if it will apply for a FEMA grant.
Massachusetts is expected to pay the retroactive three weeks’ worth, or $900, of the boosted unemployment benefits to those receiving PUA this Saturday, making it the seventh state to actually start paying benefits, with those on regular unemployment receiving the boost by September 15.
Have you ever considered creating an e-book or guest authoring on other blogs? I have a blog based upon on the same topics you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my viewers would value your work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to send me an email.
Woh I like your articles, saved to bookmarks! .
I enjoy you because of your entire labor on this blog. Kim take interest in conducting research and it is easy to see why. Most of us hear all about the lively medium you create useful things through your website and as well improve participation from visitors about this article then our own girl has always been being taught a whole lot. Take pleasure in the remaining portion of the new year. You are doing a dazzling job.
Great write-up, I’m normal visitor of one’s blog, maintain up the excellent operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a lengthy time.
Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!
I just couldn’t depart your site before suggesting that I actually enjoyed the standard information a person provide for your visitors? Is gonna be back often to check up on new posts
I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
Your point of view caught my eye and was very interesting. Thanks. I have a question for you.
I’m really loving the theme/design of your site. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems? A handful of my blog readers have complained about my blog not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you have any solutions to help fix this problem?
Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I’ll definitely return.
Hi there would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend a good hosting provider at a reasonable price? Thanks, I appreciate it!
It’s onerous to find educated people on this topic, however you sound like you realize what you’re speaking about! Thanks
I really appreciate this post. I have been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thanks again
I really wanted to send a small note in order to thank you for all the awesome solutions you are showing at this website. My time consuming internet search has at the end been paid with useful insight to share with my family. I ‘d declare that we site visitors actually are very much lucky to be in a fabulous community with so many wonderful professionals with very helpful principles. I feel pretty fortunate to have come across your webpage and look forward to some more enjoyable moments reading here. Thanks a lot once again for everything.
Only wanna input on few general things, The website style and design is perfect, the content material is very superb : D.
I am glad to be a visitant of this stark web blog! , appreciate it for this rare info ! .
This really answered my problem, thank you!
Someone essentially help to make seriously posts I would state. This is the first time I frequented your web page and thus far? I amazed with the research you made to create this particular publish extraordinary. Magnificent job!
Wohh exactly what I was looking for, thankyou for putting up.
You are my aspiration, I possess few blogs and often run out from to brand : (.
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You definitely know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us something informative to read?
Hmm it appears like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I had written and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog blogger but I’m still new to the whole thing. Do you have any helpful hints for beginner blog writers? I’d really appreciate it.
We’re a group of volunteers and starting a brand new scheme in our community. Your site offered us with helpful info to paintings on. You’ve done a formidable process and our entire group shall be grateful to you.
There are certainly a lot of particulars like that to take into consideration. That could be a great level to carry up. I offer the thoughts above as basic inspiration however clearly there are questions just like the one you bring up where an important factor will likely be working in sincere good faith. I don?t know if greatest practices have emerged round issues like that, but I’m certain that your job is clearly recognized as a fair game. Each boys and girls really feel the impact of just a moment’s pleasure, for the remainder of their lives.
I’d must verify with you here. Which is not one thing I usually do! I take pleasure in reading a post that may make people think. Also, thanks for permitting me to comment!
Real great info can be found on weblog.
Absolutely pent subject material, Really enjoyed examining.
I like the helpful info you provide in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and check again here regularly. I’m quite certain I will learn many new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
Yeah bookmaking this wasn’t a high risk determination great post! .
There is noticeably a bundle to find out about this. I assume you made certain good points in features also.
I simply couldn’t depart your web site prior to suggesting that I actually loved the usual info a person supply for your guests? Is gonna be again steadily in order to inspect new posts.
Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Very nice post and straight to the point. I don’t know if this is truly the best place to ask but do you folks have any ideea where to employ some professional writers? Thanks 🙂
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! By the way, how can we communicate?
I truly enjoy reading on this web site, it holds excellent content.
Nice post. I learn something tougher on completely different blogs everyday. It should all the time be stimulating to learn content material from different writers and apply a bit something from their store. I’d prefer to use some with the content material on my blog whether or not you don’t mind. Natually I’ll provide you with a hyperlink in your net blog. Thanks for sharing.
Good – I should certainly pronounce, impressed with your website. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs and related information ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it at all. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, site theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Nice task.
What’s Happening i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It absolutely helpful and it has aided me out loads. I hope to contribute & help other users like its helped me. Great job.