1. The Power Is in the Paper

Democrats must write the next relief bill, and they have a clear opening to do it for two reasons. First, the economic news is so dire that Trump will have to come back to the well for more relief. The Federal Reserve is projecting the unemployment rate to hit 32 percent—higher than the 25 percent it reached at the height of the Great Depression. When Trump asks Congress for more aid, it will be a clear admission not just that his previous efforts have failed, but that Republicans lack the policy chops and political imagination to craft a sufficient federal response to this challenge.

Second, Republicans are stalling, and that gives Democrats time to seize the initiative. In response to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s initial calls for a Phase Four, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell told her to “stand down.” It’s an obnoxious comment that will age poorly, but McConnell’s delay gives House and Senate Democrats time to write a Phase Four bill together, pass it through the House and drop it in McConnell’s lap.

The news will get worse with every passing day, and the relief from the Phase Three legislation will not come fast enough, building enormous pressure for more action. In the best case scenario, the Senate relents and passes the Democratic bill, or a version close to it. Worst-case scenario, McConnell brings it up for a vote to kill it, but even then, Democrats will have set the starting line. At a time of unprecedented crisis, it is politically and morally untenable to argue against relief for Americans, or that it’s too generous. The mover wins—all the upside lies in acting quickly to deliver generous relief. Democrats have the high ground and they should use it decisively, because lives depend on it.

2. Go Big—Like, Really Big.

Here’s how Democrats should decide what goes in the bill: Get the biggest box you can find. Then take every policy that will help working people and our democratic institutions survive this crisis. Put them in the box, address it to Trump and McConnell, and drop it off for curbside, no-contact pickup.

To survive this, we need to structurally reorient key aspects of our economy. The massive job loss is wiping out the employer-based model for health care, which America is the only developed country in the world to maintain. At a minimum, we need to reduce costs, reopen Affordable Care Act enrollment and create a pop-up public option that can be implemented immediately. Senator Warren’s transition health care plan, which creates a public option, lowers prescription drug prices, strengthens Medicare and Medicaid and attacks corruption in the health care industry, is a good place to start. We need to put as much cash in people’s hands as possible to prevent Americans from starving and to spur consumer demand; direct cash payments have reliably proven to be highly effective as economic stimulus. We also need massive debt forgiveness. And we need a plan to put people to work on infrastructure projects—including green jobs, which are enormously popular—when health conditions allow, in a government initiative modeled after FDR’s Works Progress Administration. It will take a long time to dig out of this crisis, and a program like this will put people to work while bringing our crumbling infrastructure into the 21st century. And since a democracy can’t function without voting, we need remote voting and enhanced federal resources for states to carry out secure elections.

The worst-kept secret in Washington is that there is plenty of money to help working people. All we need is the political will to deliver it to them. Whatever this bill costs, the price of failing to meet this moment will be larger in every respect, from human suffering to the long-term economic costs of cratering consumer demand in an economy reliant on it, than the up-front cost of relief.