Pelosi abruptly shifts course, restarts economic relief push amid signs economy is straining

[brooklynite]

Source: Washington Post

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) abruptly shifted course Thursday and moved to assemble a new and smaller coronavirus relief bill to form the basis for renewed talks with the White House, amid mounting pressure from moderates in her caucus and increasingly alarming economic news.

The new legislation would be significantly narrower in scope than the $3.4 trillion Heroes Act the House passed in May. Pelosi has more recently focused on the need for $2.2 trillion in aid -- a figure Republicans say is still too high -- but in a meeting with House Democratic leaders Thursday she said the new bill would be around $2.4 trillion, because of urgent needs arising from restaurants and airlines. Details were provided by a person familiar with the meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was private.

Pelosi asked key committee chairmen to get to work on putting together the bill.

“We are still striving for an agreement,” Pelosi said inside the leadership meeting. She suggested the legislation could come to a vote on the House floor even if no bipartisan deal is reached.



Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/09/24/congress-coronavirus-economic-relief/

[Laelth]

1. We desperately need the relief.

But I hope that Pelosi doesn’t cave. So far, she has been consistent—at least $2 trillion, or we’re not playing ball. I hope she holds the line on that figure.

-Laelth

[yaesu]

2. just hope it isn't just corporate welfare while leaving another round of stimulus checks behind. nt

[kairos12]

3. I think both sides are wary of

massive airline layoffs coming on 1 October.

[Make7]

4. Were there signs since March that the economy WAS NOT straining? ( n/t )

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Oh, no! It's not Shifty Schiff, it's Shifty Nancy!

What will Trump do?

[DallasNE]

6. The Current Bill Expires On 09/30/2020

On October 1, 2020 the 3 largest airlines are set to cut a combined 40,000 jobs. 3 companies. Other industries will also be laying off 10's of thousands of workers for the same reason. The total October plunge will be massive. But October results will not be available until the Friday after the November 3rd election.

So, yes, this is urgent. I'm surprised this has snuck up on people like it has. Perhaps just so much other stuff was going so badly that they lost focus but this has always been out there as the 600 pound gorilla in the room. Indeed, the $2.4T Polosi will be pushing is too small but it reflects on the realization that Republicans just won't agree to a package to adequately fund what is needed and a slimmed down package is better than no package at all.