Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, believes Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell does not have faith President Trump will be reelected. That may be source of his reluctance to strike a deal with the White House and Congressional Democrats on another Covid19 relief package.
I think McConnell expects Trump to lose, and therefore for him to spend political capital to support Trump by forcing through a bill which would put his leadership position at risk after the election, to me, doesn’t make any sense,” Shepherdson told Business Insider. “It’s always wise to do things from McConnell’s personal perspective, because that’s how things operate in the Senate. He has enormous personal power, and he wants to be leader again — even if he has to be a leader in the minority.”
McConnell torpedoed a compromise deal between Democrats and the White House on Thursday. His members made it clear that any deal in the trillions of dollars could cost them the Senate majority.
McConnell has pledged to put a $500 billion targeted relief package on the floor next week. A far cry from the $1.8 trillion – $2.2 trillion deals being discussed by the White House and House Democrats.
Rep. Khanna says every time Speaker Pelosi and Sec. Mnuchin negotiate for more coronavirus relief, “Mitch McConnell comes out and says he is not going to even put it on the Senate floor.”
“Mitch McConnell really is the obstacle right now.”https://t.co/1wweKWVGYO
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 16, 2020
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