Manchin says no to new round of $2k cheques (update: not quite)

[Statilius the Epicurean]

https://twitter.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1347597564149903360

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I presume he's only doing this because he knows it has Republican votes, so he'll use this vote to maintain his "record" of "independence" from (& "fiscal restraint" compared to) the Democrats. Like I've previously pointed out, though, the man has never cast a deciding vote against the Democratic Party line over the course of his nearly 10 years in the Senate. That's just not changing now.

Won't the $2k be part of a larger Democratic stimulus bill though?

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I presume he's only doing this because he knows it has Republican votes, so he'll use this vote to maintain his "record" of "independence" from (& "fiscal restraint" compared to) the Democrats. Like I've previously pointed out, though, the man has never cast a deciding vote against the Democratic Party line over the course of his nearly 10 years in the Senate. That's just not changing now.

Won't the $2k be part of a larger Democratic stimulus bill though?

Theres a clean house bill that's just for $1400. I assume Schumer will take that up.

Will that get 10 Republican votes?

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I presume he's only doing this because he knows it has Republican votes, so he'll use this vote to maintain his "record" of "independence" from (& "fiscal restraint" compared to) the Democrats. Like I've previously pointed out, though, the man has never cast a deciding vote against the Democratic Party line over the course of his nearly 10 years in the Senate. That's just not changing now.

Won't the $2k be part of a larger Democratic stimulus bill though?

Theres a clean house bill that's just for $1400. I assume Schumer will take that up.

Will that get 10 Republican votes?

Reconciliation

For just stimulus checks? Not as part of a spending bill?

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I presume he's only doing this because he knows it has Republican votes, so he'll use this vote to maintain his "record" of "independence" from (& "fiscal restraint" compared to) the Democrats. Like I've previously pointed out, though, the man has never cast a deciding vote against the Democratic Party line over the course of his nearly 10 years in the Senate. That's just not changing now.

Won't the $2k be part of a larger Democratic stimulus bill though?

Theres a clean house bill that's just for $1400. I assume Schumer will take that up.

Will that get 10 Republican votes?

Reconciliation

For just stimulus checks? Not as part of a spending bill?

I thought it went without saying that this would be part of a large spending bill

Read up in the thread you were quoting...

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Are people seriously pretending that giving $2k to literally everyone is better than targeting support to people who lost their jobs?

Yes.



Targeted relief is notoriously bad at actually getting money to the people you're trying to reach. The government doesn't have perfect information.

Also, countries are in recession right now and have enormous fiscal headroom, so other than some sort of moral objection there's no cost to getting checks out to even people who don't need the money.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

The vast majority of people don't need the money. And even those that do will get by without it, as people always do.

I think this is the wrong framing.

Would tens of millions of people in difficult economic circumstances be helped by direct payments? Yes. Would the economy as a whole benefit? Yes. Are there any inflationary or deficit risks? No.

Most people don't 'need' Social Security who receive it. A 'needs-based' targeted welfare state would be cumbersome, inefficient and fail to include people who it was supposed to protect. That's not a good standard for public policy in my view. Get the checks out and help people before worrying about just deserts.