The only thing standing between average American citizens and their desperately needed stimulus checks is Nancy Pelosi. After the Senate reached a bipartisan deal, House Speaker Pelosi went rogue. She’s holding the entire relief package hostage until she gets her “wish list” of demands.
America needs the stimulus checks now
Nancy Pelosi is starting to look a lot like a lone-wolf terrorist. In the middle of a dire national emergency, the top House Democrat decided to put partisan goals ahead of the American people. Reports from reliable mainstream sources confirm that a $2 trillion relief package was moving smoothly through the Senate until Benedict Pelosi got involved.
The United States of America is depending on it’s lawmakers to reach an agreement today Americans need checks now. There is not a second to waste on partisan bickering. Nancy Pelosi doesn’t share that sense of urgency. “We’re right there,” an informed person leaked to CNN late Sunday night. “But we aren’t there yet.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin late into the night, while their staff worked until dawn trying to seal a deal. By late Sunday, Schumer noted, “We’re getting closer and closer. And I’m very hopeful, is how I’d put it, that we can get a bill in the morning.” Nancy is still dragging her feet.
Senate leader furious
Majority Senator Mitch McConnell had an unusual meltdown over the issue. According to CNN, “McConnell rarely moves above the level of monotone English 101 professor when he speaks on the Senate floor. That’s what made his reaction to the Democratic decision to block the procedural vote stand out on Sunday. The Kentucky Republican was furious — red faced, banging the lectern in front of him with his finger to make a point and raising his voice several times.”
He couldn’t even get agreement on a simple procedural vote to allow “the process to move forward.” Nancy Pelosi squashed it like a bug and America’s hopes for desperately needed checks with it. “The Democratic leader and the speaker of the House decided to blow it all up and play Russian roulette with the markets.”
Pelosi flew in from San Francisco just to poke her broomstick at the Majority Leader. Insiders relate that her antics “particularly outraged McConnell, who views her entrance into the talks as single handedly short-circuiting days of extensive bipartisan work.”
A ‘wish list’ of demands
Ben Williamson, the top assistant to new White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, provided some key details. Pelosi, he insists, “returned to Washington, D.C., on Sunday with a wish list of sudden demands.” What happened next was unbelievable.
“Senate spends all weekend negotiating a bipartisan deal. Agreement reached. Pelosi flies in from California, whips out her unrelated ‘wish list,’ and says no. Senate Democrats then vote against proceeding on a bill they negotiated. Jaw dropping.”
Senate spends all weekend negotiating a bipartisan deal. Agreement reached. Pelosi flies in from California, whips out her unrelated “wishlist,” and says no. Senate Democrats then vote against proceeding on a bill they negotiated.
Jaw dropping.
— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) March 22, 2020
Pelosi intends to throw the entire deal out the window and start from scratch, building a House proposal from the ground up around Democrat priorities. She wants to leverage “the urgency of the herculean package to achieve broader, long term policy goals like a massive infrastructure deal.”
Even Democrats are scratching their heads. “Some House Democrats are privately wondering what is Pelosi’s endgame, especially given that lawmakers, including many in her own caucus, don’t even want to return to Washington at all, much less for a standoff with the Senate.”
Only after Pelosi stuck her finger in the pie, “Democrats began circulating talking points that blamed Republicans for the impasse.” McConnell says that’s a lie. Democrats are just playing games. “The notion that we have time to play games here with the American economy and the American people is utterly absurd.”
Today may be a good day to call your official representatives in both the House and Senate to let them know how you feel about the issue. Remember, politics is not a spectator sport.
