Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he had spoken with President Biden this week and we wonder if he gave him that very simple, yet effective messaging nugget that he put forth on today's program, which was "Protecting people is protecting the economy." Great messaging if you're trying to pass a $1.9 trillion Covid relief package through Congress. Don't you think?
The two main concerns with regard to the bill are that it will make the total government layout $6 trillion in one calendar year, as Chuck Todd pointed out during the discussion, and the other is the inflation that could be caused by infusing so much liquid into an economy that is beginning to recover as Brett Stephens mentioned.
Both parties have been exploding the national debt over the decades and one can only wonder when that day of reckoning will come when the interest payments become unmanageable. Inflation is a concern but with smart fiscal policy it can be mitigated. Pricing going up while wages stay flat so that you're dollar covers less - inflation - has been going on for some time now (an understatement), but if the concern is Venezuela-type inflation, that worry is overblown.
The economy is starting to recover, but the recovery will certainly be disproportionate in who it benefits without the Covid relief bill passing. The relief package consists of elements that directly address Covid efforts - vaccine distribution, testing, tracing, PPE, et al, but its also designed to make people and state governments whole again. It's this part of the bill that Republicans in Congress object to even though Republican governors and mayors are in favor of its passage because they know they need the help to balance their budgets and prevent layoffs of public employees like firemen and police. Some Texas elected officials have stated that people are on their own as it isn't the job of the government to help, then again their not looking at any hurting individual directly in the eye and saying that.
Conservative concern over fiscal policy as mentioned above does need to be seriously considered, however, Republicans can not claim fiscal responsibility or responsibility for much at all if you consider how a Republican president and Senate sat on their hands for the better part of a year while hundreds of thousands died. If they had taken the pandemic seriously, maybe this relief package wouldn't have been necessary, but given where we are now it is absolutely necessary.
The relief package could be all for not if we do not continue to practice mitigation efforts as Dr. Fauci instructed because as he explained the baseline for cases per day is still way too high. He also explained that with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine coming online, productive and distribution will be ramping up even more. Basically, he's telling us we're in a race to get as many people vaccinated as possible as quickly as possible because let's face it, the American people writ large can not be counted on to do the right thing and continue strict mitigation measures. Will they? Not bloody likely, as the saying goes.
We mentioned earlier that Republican leaders and the local and state level want the relief package to pass and in polls 60% of Republican voters want it as well so why didn't Republicans in the House vote for the bill? Why is it projected that none of the Republicans Senators will vote for it either? For Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) and a select few others, it is about fiscal issues, but for most all the others it's about not giving President Biden a political win under the guise of fiscal responsibility. If Republicans vote for a bill put forward by the Biden Administration then that says to the base that they are legitimizing the Biden presidency, which is a no-no in Trump world, or at CPAC occurring as we write this.
Republicans should put their complaints about the Biden Administration not being bipartisan until all of them say aloud that Joe Biden is president. It's clearly apparent that they haven't acknowledged basic civics.
Panel: Carol Lee, NBC News; Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post; Brett Stephens, The New York Times; O. Kay Henderson, Radio Iowa Network
One more thing...
How scary is this? A golden Trump statue at CPAC, a false idol compared to the golden calf. As North Dakota governor Kristi Noem (R) said, they've become what they behold... Sheep.
Not to mention the fact that Donald Trump would never ever be seen in shorts and flip-flops, please.
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