Mitch McConnell has tried nothing and he’s all out of ideas
Moscow Mitch’s brilliant scheme of just re-introducing the Mnuchin/Trump unconstrained slush fund, an idea so bad Joe Manchin is relentlessly dunking on it, and hoping things would be different went about as well as could be expected:
Democrats blocked a $2 trillion coronavirus rescue bill for the second day in a row Monday, as near-pandemonium erupted on the Senate floor with lawmakers venting fury about their failed efforts to address the pandemic’s impact on the U.S. economy.
Ahead of the vote, Senators clashed angrily over delays that had bogged down the giant bill, reflecting uncertainty about whether Congress would be able to reach a deal in the coming hours. Some lawmakers had hoped to reach an agreement three days ago, but talks kept breaking down even as they negotiated throughout the weekend.
Democrats have argued that the bill is disproportionately tilted towards helping companies and needs to extend more benefits to families and health care providers, while Republicans have countered that the bill offers unprecedented financial assistance to the entire economy and needs to be passed before more people lose their jobs.
[…]
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said that the bill, which includes a huge $500 billion fund for businesses, states, and cities that the administration would have wide latitude to spend, makes the Senate look “more focused on the big corporations and the health of Wall Street than we are on the health care of the people in rural America and Main Street.”
The condition of the economy hangs on the president, so it will be interesting to see how long Republicans want to put themselves at greater political risk to fight for the Mar-a-Lago bailout.
Meanwhile, the House has introduced a much better bill.