The Democrats’ Loss of Nerve by Robert Kuttner 3:00 PM

Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

Once again, Mitch McConnell has played hardball while the Democrats play beanbag. The Senate’s $484 billion emergency relief bill now greased for quick passage in the House tomorrow includes more money for payroll protection, small businesses, hospitals, and testing—but nothing for state and local governments or programs that serve the poor, such as food stamps.

One reason is that Nancy Pelosi gave up the leverage that usually comes with the House moving first. She refused to permit remote deliberation and voting, for fear of setting a precedent, in favor of a pro forma session with few live members, and a quick sign-off. So McConnell gets to write the bill.

Chuck Schumer and Pelosi say there will be more packages—and there will—but this was a moment of unique leverage, with businesses and their Republican allies screaming for more relief. If Democratic leaders had hung tough, they could have gotten more aid to states than the paltry $150 billion in the original CARES Act, which is just 5 percent of state and local spending.

With the economic collapse, state sales and income tax revenues are cratering, and will be off this year by at least 20 percent. Republican governors feel this as much as Democratic ones.

There is a terrible double standard in how these relief bills treat states and how they treat Wall Street. The Federal Reserve has offered loans to states, but unlike the legislated aid to businesses, these loans need to be paid back in full. Meanwhile, Wall Street gets to dump trillions of dollars in junk securities onto the Fed in exchange for cash, and never have to take them back.

The motivation of McConnell and Trump is purely ideological. They hate government. What better time to starve it into submission.

It’s up to House progressives to demand: No aid for state and local government, no bill. The emergency measure will pass, if not this week then next week. So far, only Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said flatly that she won’t vote for this bill. The entire progressive caucus needs to show Pelosi and Schumer (and Trump) what real leadership looks like, and hold out for a better relief bill.