Risky Strategy Has Produced Wins for Democrats in Fights Over Pandemic Aid – The New York Times

WASHINGTON In January 2018, Senate Democrats took a politically risky stand, shutting down the government to insist on protections for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants. Gleeful Republicans saw the obstruction strategy as a huge blunder and pounded the Democrats, who caved after only a few days of sharp attacks and cut a deal to reopen.

Times and circumstances have changed.

Democrats have now blocked two consecutive coronavirus rescue packages pushed by Republicans and withstood withering criticism to win concessions and hundreds of billions of dollars they said were vital. At nearly $500 billion, the latest measure to move through Congress this week ended up being almost twice the size and much broader in scope than the original bill Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, tried to ram through two weeks earlier without negotiations.

It was a potentially dangerous strategy for Democrats, particularly in an election year, that left them open to accusations from President Trump and congressional Republicans that they were denying desperately needed money at a crucial moment for businesses trying to survive in the face of the pandemic. It may have also reduced their leverage in the next fight over a much larger stimulus measure that is likely to top $1 trillion.

But their willingness to take on those risks reflects Democrats confidence that the terrain of the current debate a public health crisis and economic disaster that will require the broadest government relief effort since the post-World War II era plays to their core strengths as a party. It is also based in part on their belief that Mr. Trump, whose re-election hopes are likely to rise or fall based on the public perception of his administrations response to the pandemic, has a strong incentive to compromise with them.

We think we are right, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in an interview explaining his partys stance. People were just united that this was a serious crisis, and it was sort of obvious what McConnell was trying to do.

The same was true last month, when Democrats twice voted to block a sweeping economic stimulus package that contained jobless aid, direct payments to Americans and business bailouts while they held out for their priorities, including stricter oversight requirements over how the Trump administration would spend the vast amounts of money. That $2.2 trillion measure passed unanimously.

My overall observation is its pretty hard to win a spending contest with a Democrat, Mr. McConnell said in a brief interview on Tuesday. They always want to spend more on everything.

Mr. McConnell has evidently had enough of a dynamic that seems to be empowering Democrats. After the latest aid bill passed the Senate on Tuesday, he cited mounting deficit spending Congress has now appropriated more than $2.7 trillion in only seven weeks to confront the pandemic and declared that Republicans would entertain no more coronavirus rescue packages until all lawmakers were back in Washington for a normal Senate session. That scenario could delay additional aid while allowing a fuller debate on emerging proposals, rather than negotiation and approval by a handful of top lawmakers in a nearly empty Capitol.

The Republican leader also sought to play down Democratic gains in the bill, emphasizing that they had failed to secure additional aid to state and local governments that they had aggressively sought.

Its unfortunate that it took our Democratic colleagues 12 days to agree to a deal that contains essentially nothing that Republicans ever opposed, Mr. McConnell said.

But the measure did contain multiple things that Mr. McConnell initially rejected as he sought approval of a bare-bones infusion of $250 billion into a small-business loan program that had quickly run dry of funds. Instead, that program got $320 billion in new funds, including $60 billion secured by Democrats to be funneled through smaller community lenders to reach businesses that can struggle to get loans from big banks.

Also included were $60 billion to replenish exhausted Small Business Administration disaster relief accounts, $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion for Covid-19 testing, plus a mandate that the Trump administration establish a strategy to help states vastly step up the deployment of tests throughout the country a move Republicans had opposed.

Of the four major things we pushed for, we got three over Republican resistance, Mr. Schumer said. But they knew they needed us.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who early on warned Mr. McConnell that his proposal would not clear the Democratically controlled House, called the outcome a clear win for her partys priorities. She said the legislation would not have been delayed at all if Republicans had accepted a Democratic counteroffer two weeks ago.

They like to say, Oh, we held up, Ms. Pelosi told reporters. No, we didnt hold it up. They held up. And now we have prevailed.

We needed to make sure they were working for everybody, not just the most-connected businesses, said Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, who said the business owners he consulted wanted Democrats to institute changes in the loan effort, not rush to inject more funding into a flawed program.

Even after the final agreement was struck, Republicans continued to slam Democrats for the delay. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the chambers No. 3 Republican, called it disgraceful.

For Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to hold up that money for these people and hold them all hostage to create leverage is unconscionable to me, he said. They seemed to have no sense of urgency or sense of the crisis that is hitting this country.

The Trump campaign released a scathing ad on Monday attacking Ms. Pelosi for blocking the funding, juxtaposing footage of poor Americans struggling in the pandemic with clips of an appearance the speaker made on late-night TV in which she showed off her favorite ice creams. Nancy Antoinette, it called her.

Even as congressional Democrats were celebrating their gains in the legislation, they were under fire from progressive lawmakers and advocacy groups who saw the package as insufficient. Some on the left faulted Democrats for not extracting more from the Republicans, particularly for states and cities that are being pushed to the financial brink by the pandemic, or winning more direct aid for beleaguered Americans wondering how to pay rent when they cannot expect another check from the government.

This is a win for McConnell and Trump, said Ezra Levin, an executive director of the group Indivisible. This Covid 3.5 package is nothing close to what families and workers need right now.

Mr. Schumer and Ms. Pelosi disputed that notion and promised a robust Phase 4 of the pandemic relief effort. They noted that the Trump administration was also already mapping plans for another bill that would include infrastructure investments and aid for states. Democrats said that action would become inevitable as states and cities face decisions on laying off emergency workers and cutting other services and as the public clamors for help.

Mr. McConnell appears to be digging in, telling the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday that he wanted to push the pause button on coronavirus relief legislation, and that this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments needs to be thoroughly evaluated.

But with the pandemic continuing to roil the economy and facing intense pressure to respond from Democrats, the White House, governors of both parties and some of his own lawmakers, Mr. McConnell may once again find himself in the unusual position of struggling to hold the line.

Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.

Continue reading here:

Risky Strategy Has Produced Wins for Democrats in Fights Over Pandemic Aid - The New York Times