'Congress' Is Not Flailing. Republicans Are.

With whom, exactly, are the Democrats supposed to negotiate here in Bedlam?

united states   july 29 senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, r ky, walks to the senate subway on his way to the senate republicans lunch on wednesday, july 29, 2020 photo by bill clarkcq roll call, inc via getty images
Bill ClarkGetty Images

No, goddammit, Washington Post, Enough of this nonsense. “Congress” is not flailing. The Republican majority in the Senate is flailing, because the Republican majority is made up of Republicans, and the Republican Party is made up of hyper-ambitious lunatics. It’s not “Congress” that’s stiffing the millions of Americans who need relief in this perilous time of tangled national emergencies that are feeding off each other. It’s the Republicans. Why is that so hard to say?

The crisis that forced lawmakers to act with unusual speed in March and April to pump an unprecedented $3 trillion into the economy has not abated. By some measures, after a brief leveling off in infections and some positive economic indicators, things have gotten worse. What has faded is the sense of bipartisan urgency that existed in the spring and propelled Congress to act with near unanimity. At that time, the new virus that was wreaking economic havoc around the nation was so alarming it seemed to startle lawmakers out of their partisan corners. But now the election is nearing, and the novel coronavirus is not so novel. The partisan divisions are back on Capitol Hill, and they appear to be as intractable as ever.

Oh, FFS, as all the kidz abbreviate these days. The Democratic House has passed a relief package that deals with all aspects of the current crises, from aid to schools to help for the states with balloting this November. But the Republican president* is in Cloud Cuckoo Land on the pandemic, and the Republicans in the Senate, desperate to hold onto their majority, can’t figure out if there are more votes to be had by helping the folks back home, or by pumping more hot-air into the leaky balloon of “fiscal responsibility.” And Mitch McConnell has so lost control of his caucus that he went home this past weekend having accomplished nothing.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) waited months over the late spring and summer to act, saying he wanted to see what impact the programs already approved were having before agreeing to anything more. During that time the virus itself frustrated widespread hopes that the situation might improve and began to surge in states that had reopened too aggressively. McConnell finally released a $1 trillion bill last Monday as the GOP’s answer to the much larger bill passed by House Democrats in May, but he struggled to get consensus within his party and with the Trump administration, including complaints from members of his own conference about everything from the price tag to a new round of stimulus checks.

Between the people afraid of losing their seats, and the senators who want to run for president in 2024, McConnell is paralyzed. Of course, you will never guess what the real problem is.

Democrats have consistently rejected the notion of a short-term fix, and in face of the GOP’s disunity they have shown little willingness to compromise on their push for the most generous relief bill possible, with an array of provisions that Republicans reject, such as $1 trillion in new aid for cities and states. Republicans say they do not think Democrats want to pass anything at all because they’d rather have a political issue; Democrats angrily reject that accusation.

Yes. Yes, they do. You know why? Because it’s bullshit, that’s why. McConnell can’t even get his caucus to listen to either the White House chief of staff or the Secretary of the Treasury, let alone himself. With whom, exactly, are the Democrats supposed to negotiate here in Bedlam?

“Our politics is such that there must be significant political pain before hard things can get done,” said Brendan Buck, who was a top adviser to former Republican House speaker Paul D. Ryan. “That’s our forcing mechanism, and the political pain will be starting very soon.”

Just shut up, OK? It’s not “our politics,” dude. It’s your politics. Own it.

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