This is Not the Best Our Government Can Do
By Dan Murphy
With Christmas less that one week away, our Congressional leaders in Washington are patting themselves on the back for coming to an agreement on a pandemic relief package. While the $990 Billion package has still yet to be finalized as I write this, the real question that millions of Americans have is “What Took You So Long?”
I heard Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speak on TV a few days ago saying that “Congress stepped up in the spring” with a Pandemic relief package, and he is correct. But since then, Americans were hoping for a second package in the summer or fall, and a third package in the fall or before the holidays.
McConnell, and all four Congressional leaders (US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy) have been unable to sit down, find consensus and reach a compromise.
Part of the reason is that, as the Washington Post writes, “McConnell and Schumer loathe one another,” and “Pelosi and McCarthy, 55, have an equally toxic relationship. These four American leaders were unable to agree and take credit for an easy and logical political move; to make sure that all Americans had their pandemic relief in time for the holidays. Even if the current deal on the table is passed by Congress and signed by the President, most Americans will not receive their relief until after Christmas.
The same four Congressional leaders should consider themselves lucky that they have President Donald Trump distracting the American people from their own dysfunction. With Trump departing the stage next month, there will now be more of a focus on what Congress is doing, or what they are incapable of doing, for the American people.
Waiting eight months to pass another relief package during a COVID shutdown is not the best that our government can do. Don’t let them fool you once they pass it.
Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough said that an evenly divided U.S. Senate gives an opportunity to centrist -independent minded Senators. He dubbed this chance, “The Revenge of the Moderates.”
We hope that those moderate minded Senators, led by democrat Joe Mansion and republican Lisa Murkowksi, can form a coalition of 12 or more and can make sure that millions of Americans that are out of work and out of hope can get some relief in the first few months of 2021, while we wait for a vaccine.
While we wait for that vaccine, let’s make a simple demand next year of our government. Don’t just point the finger at the other side and go home, but be willing to sit down and compromise, and find consensus.
