Congress leaves town without a coronavirus stimulus deal, allowing $600 unemployment benefit to end

[mystery-ak]

Congress leaves town without a coronavirus stimulus deal, allowing $600 unemployment benefit to end
Christal Hayes
Courtney Subramanian
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – A $600 weekly unemployment benefit that has helped millions of Americans stay afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic officially ended at midnight as Congress adjourned for the weekend without coming to any deal on the program or a larger emergency stimulus package.

The discussions over another package turned testy Friday as Democrats and Republicans each blamed the other for their inability to come to an agreement, leaving out-of-work Americans in limbo as the vital benefits came to a halt.

In dueling press conferences, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows laid into Democrats for rejecting a short-term deal to continue the bolstered unemployment benefit for one week, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi railed against Republicans and the Trump administration for attempting to take a piecemeal approach to helping Americans as COVID-19 cases continue to surge nationally.

more
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/31/coronavirus-stimulus-trump-pelosi-cast-blame-unemployment-ends/5554365002/

[Applewood]

And I thought these bums would have to stay in DC to get this deal done. 

On the bright side, the trillions we can't afford won't be spent for a little while. 

[mystery-ak]

Go home. Pelosi was never going to deal on unemployment benefits
https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2020/08/01/go-home-pelosi-never-going-deal-unemployment-benefits/

[Mesaclone]

Congress leaves town without a coronavirus stimulus deal, allowing $600 unemployment benefit to end
Christal Hayes
Courtney Subramanian
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – A $600 weekly unemployment benefit that has helped millions of Americans stay afloat amid the coronavirus pandemic officially ended at midnight as Congress adjourned for the weekend without coming to any deal on the program or a larger emergency stimulus package.

The discussions over another package turned testy Friday as Democrats and Republicans each blamed the other for their inability to come to an agreement, leaving out-of-work Americans in limbo as the vital benefits came to a halt.

In dueling press conferences, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows laid into Democrats for rejecting a short-term deal to continue the bolstered unemployment benefit for one week, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi railed against Republicans and the Trump administration for attempting to take a piecemeal approach to helping Americans as COVID-19 cases continue to surge nationally.

more
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/31/coronavirus-stimulus-trump-pelosi-cast-blame-unemployment-ends/5554365002/

I'm not a fan of these payouts...but in purely political terms...walking away from a deal on this is going to hurt the Dems in this upcoming election. I realize that they think this will help them portray Trump as heartless and incompetent...but they've taken this a step too far in clearly refusing to negotiate at all. As Biden has been leading in the polls, the "politically" smart thing to do for Dems is to avoid game changing events....this non-passage of an extension is clearly an event and they are at great risk of being blamed by the public.

Perhaps even more importantly, this is going to force some people...who would otherwise sit at home collecting a big unemployment check...to actually go back to work. That's going to swing the unemployment numbers strongly in Trump's direction...as, oddly enough...he's the only one rooting for unemployment to go down at this point. Dems are now in the ugly position of rooting for MORE unemployment...untenable.

To be clear, I'm not addressing the good or bad of the bill itself...just looking purely at the political impact of non-passage.

[Applewood]

From the Hot Air article:

At this point, the GOP should just walk away. Nancy Pelosi has no intention of acting reasonably and sees no benefit in making a deal. Team GOP would probably make better use of their time by pointing out exactly what the Democrats are up to and leaving Chuck and Nancy to stew in their own juices.

If the GOP had a pair, they would say, "we're done here" and make the Democrats the demons for being so obstinate.  But not one of them is willing to stand up.  They all want to "negotiate;" they want a "bipartisan deal."  Eventually, because they know the election in November may not go their way, they will cave.  One trillion will  become three trillion, maybe more.  Both parties have pork they want to put into the final bill too.  We will be spending on BS that has nothing to do with the impact of COVID, while those looking forward to some financial relief will get nothing.  More spending on stuff we don't need, don't want and can't afford.

[AL]

Nad's needs some nap time.

[DB]

People need to get back to work. Not paid to not work with printed dollars.

[libertybele]

I'm not a fan of these payouts...but in purely political terms...walking away from a deal on this is going to hurt the Dems in this upcoming election. I realize that they think this will help them portray Trump as heartless and incompetent...but they've taken this a step too far in clearly refusing to negotiate at all. As Biden has been leading in the polls, the "politically" smart thing to do for Dems is to avoid game changing events....this non-passage of an extension is clearly an event and they are at great risk of being blamed by the public.

Perhaps even more importantly, this is going to force some people...who would otherwise sit at home collecting a big unemployment check...to actually go back to work. That's going to swing the unemployment numbers strongly in Trump's direction...as, oddly enough...he's the only one rooting for unemployment to go down at this point. Dems are now in the ugly position of rooting for MORE unemployment...untenable.

To be clear, I'm not addressing the good or bad of the bill itself...just looking purely at the political impact of non-passage.

Only problem is the MSM WILL report that it was the GOP who refused to negotiate and then they left town.  The public is only going to blame the party that the MSM is reporting is at fault.  The DEMS will never be portrayed as being at fault.

[Mesaclone]

Only problem is the MSM WILL report that it was the GOP who refused to negotiate and then they left town.  The public is only going to blame the party that the MSM is reporting is at fault.  The DEMS will never be portrayed as being at fault.

They will, but there are limits even for them...enough people have seen this act before and the reputation of the MSM is sufficiently damaged that the truth can still works its way past the obfuscation.

As for Applewood saying the GOP should just walk away...on the contrary. THAT is exactly how you lose the political fight on this issue. What you DO, is to hold your ground on your offer...I believe its at an $200 supplement to unemployment...and make THEM walk away. Then its clear that the President was still at the table trying to work something out to help the folks who've lost their jobs, whilst the Dems are playing games and are focused on political brinkmanship.

[Cyber Liberty]

Fine with me.  Is there a problem here?