Governing by gaslight
By 
You will be shocked that the bill Mitch McConnell is finally getting around to proposing after a long summer nap is garbage:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) unveiled a slimmed-down coronavirus relief bill on Tuesday and announced plans to move to a vote later this week, an effort to put Democrats on the defensive after weeks of stalled talks.
The legislation is not expected to advance, since that would require support from Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the measure “pathetic.” McConnell has struggled even to unite Republicans behind the measure, and is likely to suffer some GOP defections.
But a month after bipartisan talks collapsed on Capitol Hill, McConnell is aiming to pressure Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) with a GOP package that would spend around $500 billion on some key priorities including small businesses, enhanced unemployment insurance, child care, the post office, coronavirus testing and schools. It would also create a type of liability shield for businesses to protect them from certain lawsuits related to the coronavirus.
OUTFLANKED! But surely PAY CHECK DON got those direct cash payments in the bill at least, right?
Paycheck Don strikes again pic.twitter.com/EhelD3eKBT— staying home stan account (@Convolutedname) September 8, 2020
Wow, wait until Comrades Hawley and Cotton find out about this — I’m sure they might go so far as make some vaguely “populist” threats to defund their alma maters before voting “yea.”
Knowing that this is a godawful bill that has no chance of either passing or helping Republicans in marginal races, Moscow Mitch can resort to where he always ends up — intelligence-insulting lies:
House Democrats passed a bill that’s been sitting on your desk since mid-May pic.twitter.com/JXOpv6AZwS— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) September 8, 2020
The only question is whether the stonk market belatedly going into the tank again will spook McConnell into actually making a serious offer at some point.
…laser-focused on the biggest victims of the pandemic, you have to admit:
McConnell's new "skinny" or "targeted" covid bill aims for a compromise on the Cruz school choice issue by including a two-year tax credit, per sources.
Cruz's original plan was for a permanent tax credit for donors to scholarship funds that pay private school tuition— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) September 8, 2020