Trump Faces a GOP Revolt Over Stimulus

Plus, the "excess" Covid death toll  [The Fisc](   By Yuval Rosenberg Trump Faces a GOP Revolt Over Stimulus The faint hopes that were raised last week for another coronavirus relief package faded very quickly, as congressional Republicans and Democrats both rejected a $1.8 trillion White House proposal, leading Trump administration officials to again change their approach to the stimulus talks. Republicans revolt over White House offer: On a Saturday conference call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, a number of Senate Republicans reportedly [blasted]( the relief package that had been approved by President Trump, criticizing both the overall cost and specific components. “The voices were loud and angry,” Politico [reports](. The blowback was so strong that Meadows at one point reportedly told the group that they would “have to come to my funeral” after he conveyed their adamant opposition to the president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), meanwhile, dismissed the proposal as “grossly inadequate.” She said that the plans for coronavirus testing, tracing and treatment in the White House offer were “wholly insufficient” and that the proposals for unemployment insurance, aid to state and local governments, child care and tax credits also fell short. “It is hard to understand who is shaping their approach, which to date has been a miserable and deadly failure,” Pelosi wrote in a [letter]( to House Democrats on Sunday. “Until these serious issues are resolved, we remain at an impasse.” Pelosi also faces some pushback from her members, with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and others pressing her to take the White House offer. “Make a deal & put the ball in McConnell court,” Khanna [tweeted](. White House pivots again: In a [letter]( to the House and Senate on Sunday, Mnuchin and Meadows called for lawmakers to immediately take up a narrower bill that would reportedly allow small businesses to apply for a second round of forgivable loans, using the roughly $130 billion in untapped funds from the Paycheck Protection Program. “Now is the time for us to come together and immediately vote on a bill to allow us to spend the unused Paycheck Protection Program funds while we continue to work toward a comprehensive package,” they wrote. “The all-or-nothing approach is an unacceptable response to the American people.” No clear path forward: “The shift in strategy from the White House caps a week in which the president and his negotiators adopted a dizzying number of different approaches to securing a relief package through Congress,” The Washington Post’s Jeff Stein and Erica Werner [reported]( Sunday. But this latest proposal is no more likely to succeed, even as lawmakers in both parties support extending the Paycheck Protection Program. Pelosi has dismissed the idea of piecemeal legislation, arguing that a broader relief effort is needed. Trump himself now appears to be pressing for a larger package, too, calling on Republicans Monday to cut short Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett so they could turn their focus to a stimulus deal. "The Republicans are giving the Democrats a great deal of time, which is not mandated, to make their self serving statements relative to our great new future Supreme Court Justice," he [wrote]( on Twitter. “Personally, I would pull back, approve, and go for STIMULUS for the people!!" Democrats, criticizing what they called a rushed confirmation process, also argued that lawmakers should be spending their time on coronavirus relief. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), the Democratic vice presidential nominee and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, castigated Republicans for pushing ahead with the confirmation while not taking up a House-passed coronavirus relief bill, leaving the aid package in limbo. “Senate Republicans have made it crystal clear that rushing a Supreme Court nomination is more important than helping an supporting the American people who are suffering from a deadly pandemic and a devastating economic crisis,” she said. Will Trump try to squeeze GOP senators? White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday that Trump may still press for a larger relief package — and suggested that, despite ample evidence to the contrary, Senate Republicans would go along with the president. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany made similar comments on Monday. “I believe Senate Republicans will ultimately come along with what the president wants — the president noted that yesterday,” she [told]( Fox News. “We believe Senate Republicans are not what’s blocking this. It is Democrats.” Trump undercut that message a bit in a Monday afternoon [tweet]( “Republicans should be strongly focused on completing a wonderful stimulus package for the American People!” The bottom line: Pelosi and Mnuchin are expected to talk more this week, but the chances of a relief package passing before the election were slim to begin with and they keep shrinking with each passing day. As Politico [said]( Sunday: “Republicans aren’t taking issue with a policy or two, they’re taking issue with the entire package, the number, the scope and the policies. There doesn’t appear to be a middle ground here.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told lawmakers Monday that “no votes are expected in the House this week.” Tweets of the Day As you might have guessed by now, President Trump has been busy on Twitter today. His torrent of tweets included a couple on health care: It's not clear how Trump, who supports the lawsuit seeking to invalidate Obamacare, would protect pre-existing conditions. The president hass never released a comprehensive health care plan. Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, provides a reality check: Number of the Day: 20% From March 1 through August 1, the United States saw 1,336,561 deaths — about 20% more than would normally be expected, with Covid-19 accounting for roughly two-thirds of the “excess,” according to a [new study]( in the medical journal JAMA. "Contrary to skeptics who claim that COVID-19 deaths are fake or that the numbers are much smaller than we hear on the news, our research and many other studies on the same subject show quite the opposite," Dr. Steven Woolf, a professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, [said](. A [separate study]( also published Monday in JAMA found that Covid death rates in the United States have been higher since May than those in some other countries with high mortality rates. “The comparison in the study shows that if the US had comparable death rates to France beginning May 10, it would have had 96,763 fewer deaths,” CNN [reports](. The researchers found that after May 10, the US had more deaths per 100,000 people than other "high mortality" countries included in the comparison, such as France and Sweden. Authors Alyssa Bilinski, a PhD candidate at Harvard University, and Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, note that if U.S. mortality rates were comparable to Canada’s, the country would have had 117,622 fewer deaths. “Compared with other countries, the US experienced high COVID-19–associated mortality and excess all-cause mortality into September 2020,” they write. “This may have been a result of several factors, including weak public health infrastructure and a decentralized, inconsistent US response to the pandemic.” Send your tips and feedback to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. Follow us on Twitter: [@yuvalrosenberg]( [@mdrainey]( and [@TheFiscalTimes](. And please tell your friends they can [sign up here]( for their own copy of this newsletter. News - [Barrett Confirmation Escalates Into Crossfire on Health Care]( – Bloomberg - [Trump Faces Unusual Barrier to COVID-19 Aid: GOP Allies]( – The Hill - [Stimulus Talks Remain Deadlocked as House Told No Votes Expected]( – Bloomberg - [White House Pivots Again on Stimulus Negotiations After Bipartisan Backlash]( – Washington Post - [Former CDC Director: 20,000 More COVID-19 Deaths Possible by End of Month]( – The Hill - [Fauci Says His Remarks Were Taken Out of Context in Trump Ad]( – Reuters - [Debate Commission Cancels Oct. 15 Biden-Trump Showdown]( – Politico - [‘Having Really a Protective Glow Means Something’: Trump Claims Covid Immunity]( – Politico - [COVID-19 Coverage Safety Net Has Plenty of Holes in US]( – Associated Press - [The Swamp That Trump Built]( – New York Times - [Trump’s Children Brought Secret Service Money to the Family Business With Their Visits, Records Show]( – Washington Post - ['Too Sweet of a Pie': Cybercriminals Steal $8B in Covid Relief Funds]( – Politico - [Global Economic Watchdog Says Talks on Taxing Big Tech Will Stretch Into 2021]( – The Hill Views and Analysis - [Amateur Hour at the Trump White House]( – John F. Harris and Daniel Lippman, Politico - [Who’s Playing Politics With Public Health?]( – Bloomberg Editorial Board - [We’re Public Health Experts. We Need to Do a Better Job of Talking to Conservatives.]( – Lindsey J. Leininger and Harold Pollack, Washington Post - [Fauci’s Anger at Trump Is More Damning Than It First Appeared]( – Greg Sargent, Washington Post - [Rushing a Covid-19 Vaccine Is a Terrible Idea]( – Sam Fazeli, Bloomberg - [Mitch McConnell’s Mission of Misery]( – Paul Krugman, New York Times - [Is the Economy Rebounding — or Flailing?]( – The Week Staff - [The Fed Still Has a Powder Keg at Its Disposal]( – Brian Chappatta, Bloomberg - [The Numbers Behind Exxon’s Support for a Carbon Tax]( – Gernot Wagner, Bloomberg Green Copyright © 2020 The Fiscal Times, All rights reserved. You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed at our website, [thefiscaltimes.com]( or through Facebook. 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