Posted on 07/31/2020 8:38:13 PM PDT by RandFan
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday that more than a third of Republican senators will not vote for any coronavirus relief package, underscoring division with his caucus.
"I think there are 15-20 of my guys that are not going to vote for anything. ... It's a statement of the obvious that we will not have everybody on our side," McConnell told WHAS, a Kentucky radio station.
McConnell's estimate comes as congressional Democrats and the administration are struggling to reach an agreement after days of talks about a potential fifth coronavirus package as cases climb across the country and an economy bludgeoned by the pandemic.
McConnell, during the radio interview, said the two sides were "light-years apart," the latest sign that Congress and the White House are not close to a quick deal.
"This negotiation is going to be tough," he added. "At the moment there's not much movement."
But GOP divisions have also been in the spotlight after several senators trashed their own party's package, which was unveiled Monday. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called the bill a "mess," while Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) argued that the negotiations were being carried out by "two big government Democrats."
McConnell, asked why a sizable portion of his conference is opposed to another bill, noted the growing size of the country's debt after Congress has already appropriated nearly $3 trillion in the previous four coronavirus bills.
"Their argument's not irrational. ... They don't think we ought to pass another one of these bills. I don't agree with that," McConnell said.
Asked what those GOP senators would say to voters, McConnell added, "I think everybody's got to make their best call here."
If 20 Republicans voted against an eventual coronavirus deal, that means McConnell would need support from at least 27 Democratic senators to get the bill over a 60-vote procedural threshold and pass it in the Senate. McConnell said during an interview with PBS "Newshour" earlier this week that "about 20 of my members think that we’ve already done enough."
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has referenced the GOP divisions as he's called for the administration to make progress on a larger fifth package. Republicans offered a package of roughly $1 trillion, while the bill passed by House Democrats was around $3 trillion.
"One Senator said: 'There are a hundred problems with the plan.' Another: 'It’s a mess. I can’t figure out what this bill is about.' ... Those would be harsh criticisms if they came from Democrats. But those quotes weren’t from Democrats, those were Republican senators talking about their own party’s plan," Schumer said during a speech from the Senate floor this week.
The previous four bills passed the Senate with either no opposition or only a handful of "no" votes.
But McConnell has repeatedly acknowledged that he expects the next deal to be more contentious.
"What's happened here is that the political environment has deteriorated significantly. ... We're four months closer to the election," he said.
Trump ran as an outsider. He destroyed a bunch of GOP Good Ol’ Boys on his march to the White House. He’s a realist and I’m sure he expected some of this.
Continue this program indefinitely and you effective have two major Democrat/socialist measures imposed without so much as a public debate on the matter: a $15/hour minimum wage, coupled with a “universal basic income” of $15/hour.
Even with 40 million Americans allegedly unemployed, I still see “Help Wanted” signs all over businesses in my area. It makes absolutely no sense to continue this farce.
The political environment is no worse and no better than it has been for the last 20 years.
And maybe if they didn’t have 70% of that $3 trillion sitting unspent even as the latest Bills are being debated...
Trump wants more than even McConnell is willing to give, never mind the already 'no' votes.
Was he in the military, having been disabled with polio?
Although, I think I do recall a certain compromising “incident” that someone walked in on.
National debt is not demand debt. It's not a mortgage where you go to a bank and borrow new money at a lower rate to pay off an old loan at a higher rate. In order to retire debt you have to buy it on the open market, and the debt you will be retiring will be selling at a premium. So for every $1 trillion in debt you retire you will probably be paying $1.1 or $1.2 trillion to get it. And good luck getting anyone to buy debt with the negative rate you quoted.
The Federal Reserve will then pay the United States Treasury $3.25 Trillion per year.
No, the federal government will pay the treasury $3.25 trillion per year. The Fed acts as the agent for the treasury but the debt is serviced through tax revenue.
I think these are the "conservative" GOP Senators. They'll advertise their opposition to the bill as saviors of the national debt.
They'll be relieved come January when they don't have to worry anymore about governing and winning --- they can go back to preaching and relaxing.
Maybe the people need to get off their welfare butts and demand their economy to be reopened.
Per citizen it is not $400k, it is $80k.
No, the federal government will pay the treasury $3.25 trillion per year. The Fed acts as the agent for the treasury but the debt is serviced through tax revenue.
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The Fed does, however, pay any profits it earns back to the Treasury Dept. Since 2008 it’s remitted somewhere around $700 billion in profits. Overtime this mitigates the cost of interest payment on bonds and maturing bonds.
I don’t see it. Maybe for a couple.
It’[;s mistaking the media for their constituency that is the error most are making.
If McConnell had any brains he would see that the Dems intend to do away with the filibuster and do it now. Force everything the Republicans want through right now and watch the Dems scream bloody murder all they want.
If just for once the Republicans would do something really outrageous they just might keep the Senate.
Otherwise, if we are going to lose the Senate lets make sure McConnell and Graham go down with it.
Hopefully a partisan one.
> “ And good luck getting anyone to buy debt with the negative rate you quoted.”
You haven’t been paying attention.
It started in the Obama Administration.
The Federal Reserve is the buyer of US Debt,
Directly.
No open market needed.
Liabilities, not just debt.
Mistakenly posted to you, don’t know how that happened.
> “ And good luck getting anyone to buy debt with the negative rate you quoted.”
You haven’t been paying attention.
It started in the Obama Administration.
The Federal Reserve is the buyer of US Debt,
Directly.
No open market needed.
When it started, there was a big headline which quickly faded.
Around the same time, the M3 index was buried.
That money goes into the general revenue fund. Divert that $70 billion or so a year to the debt and you would have to offset spending elsewhere. Also a substantial part of Fed revenue comes from the Treasury instruments it holds. Make those negative interest and before long the Fed won't be paying the government anything.
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