Proposed stimulus spending doubles overnight.
Senate negotiators have been having around-the-clock negotiations on a massive coronavirus stimulus package. The administration has asked for $1 trillion in its initial request to Congress.
Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said Saturday, that negotiations were looking at a price tag of “around” $1.3 trillion and $1.4 trillion. He did not rule out that it could go up further. “More or less,” he said when asked about the $1.3 trillion figure. “We’re not quite through negotiating yet.”
Kudlow said, “The package is coming in about 10% of GDP; it’s a very large package.” Ten percent of gross domestic product is roughly $2 trillion.
The expanding price tag of the package was matched only by the expanding crisis it is being drafted to try and blunt.
Negotiations, with partisans trying to patch in favorite projects that might not be coronavirus-related, are expected to continue throughout Saturday. Senate leader McConnell has set a time for Sunday to move forward on the legislation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was hopeful a global agreement could be reached but acknowledged it is “a big, complicated, huge bill.”
One member of Congress called to memory words credited to Senator Everett Dirksen of long ago, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For members of the Senate to work together in a bipartisan way to create a clean, virus-related only, bill to aid Americans.
- That funds being directed to Americans individually would be able to be sent out rapidly while the throes of an economic downturn are being felt.
Sources: The Hill, CNN, Fox News
