Republican Priorities: Delegitimizing All Democratic Governance
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Pat Toomey is retiring in 2022 but that’s not because he doesn’t agree with contemporary Republican priorities of right-wing extremism and full-throated fireeating, even if it means making it harder for people to survive the COVID-19 era. In fact, that’s an outright benefit!
Last-minute differences between Democrats and Republicans over a COVID-19 relief bill have pushed the likely timeline back to at least the weekend.
It came after Republican Sen. Pat Toomey argued for an extra condition to be added to the package, limiting the ability of the Federal Reserve to lend money via emergency programs.
Democrats vigorously oppose the measure, which they say will constrain the incoming Biden administration. The disagreement put a dampener on hopes that a deal was imminent.
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Toomey, a GOP senator from Pennsylvania, on Thursday raised objections over Federal Reserve lending, which he said had the backing of party leaders.
He proposed an extra condition, to restrict Federal Reserve emergency lending programs, which Republicans argue were a temporary measure that is no longer needed.
Toomey said allowing the Federal Reserve program to continue beyond December 31, when it is supposed to wind up, would mean it would become a lender of first resort, violating the key function of a central bank.
“It is not the role of our central bank, the Fed, to engage in fiscal policy, social policy, or allocating credit,” he said, according to Bloomberg.
Democrats argue the move could restrict the incoming Biden administration’s capacity to provide relief to struggling sectors of the economy.
“Tying the hands of the Fed and Treasury to combat not only the remainder of the current crisis, but future crises as well, would be a terrible mistake,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said in a statement to the Financial Times.
“It would undermine confidence in our ability to respond to economic shocks and set a troubling precedent that erodes the independence of our central bank.”
The mendacity of the Republican Party re-shocks us every day.