I thought their offer would be around half at ~$1T. But I keep forgetting that "not giving a single fuck" is so 2020. They're way beyond that now.
GOP's COVID-19 relief proposal totals $600B, includes $1K payments
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said on Sunday that the framework for a COVID-19 economic relief package unveiled by 10 Republican senators would cost $600 billion, less than half the price of the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion proposal.
Cassidy said on "Fox News Sunday" that the pared-down GOP proposal unveiled earlier Sunday includes $1,000 direct payments to individuals that would be targeted to certain income levels. He did not specify if the GOP’s threshold would be those who made under $75,000 in the 2019 tax year. President Biden’s proposal includes a third round of direct payments totaling $1,400.
Funding for schools is also slashed in the GOP package, which Cassidy said offers $20 billion instead of Biden’s $170 billion. Cassidy noted previous COVID-19 relief proposals that funded schools and the notion that helping public schools would help teachers' unions who are skeptical of whether returning to in-person teaching is safe.
Cassidy said one area of agreement is vaccinations, with the 10 GOP senators agreeing to match the White’s House’s $160 billion figure to distribute and administer shots.
Biden said Friday that he supports passing a COVID-19 relief package with Republican votes “if we can get it, but the COVID relief has to pass. There’s no if, ands of butts.”
Last week, Biden administration officials held a call with 16 senators, including eight lawmakers from each party, about the White House’s COVID-19 relief package. The call was characterized as a “productive” conversation but several Republicans have called Biden’s plan too expensive.
The $1.9 trillion plan by the White House also includes an extension of emergency unemployment benefits past mid-March. A proposal by the Biden administration to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour was met with pushback by Republicans who argue it would cost American jobs.
If Democrats introduced a $3T bill their rebuttal probably would have been closer to $1T. Republicans know how to negotiate. Over the absolute lowest you're willing to go first, then the final amount will be lower overall. Dems already talked themselves down to $1.9 before even opening negotiations. They could have, with just as much effort and ease, said $4T that includes suspension of rent and mortgages, student loan forgiveness, more vaccine infrastructure, and direct payments. Probably other shit too. But nope. Gotta do the lib thing and then point to how horrible Republicans are for actually fighting for their position.
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if they ACTUALLY cared, the first proposal would be "insurance companies are now state owned, that stock is worthless and anyone who had a substantial investment would lose it as punishment for investing in human misery. executives would be lined up against the wall and shot, or we could build a gas chamber if that ends up being cheaper. then we have a public option, and a "get the fuck out" option" as a starting point.
but you see how much of a fairy story wet dream that sounds like? you literally can't even imagine them caring.
I seriously wonder how many GOP votes a "compromise" bill of, say, $800B would get. For the vast majority of GOP that number is still way too high. Maybe it would get 4 GOP votes? And then the dems would have to do reconciliation anyway.
When it comes to libs - "We are better people" does seem bred in bone.
If Biden and the dems don't kill the filibuster - their stupidity is insane. If all that stupidity had mass - it would be bigger than the Sun.
Lets begin compromising from a compromised position to make sure we avoid real policy changes <-- Dem strategy
The Dems were doing this back in the primaries, giving concessions before negotiations started. There was Medicare for all who want it, cancelling loans for pell grant recipients, promising not to bad fracking etc. It makes it easier for them to not deliver, if they barely offer anything.