Writing for Intelligencer this Wednesday, Ed Kilgore says that Republicans are giving Democrats all the leverage they need in regards to the HEALS Act — the trillion-dollar proposal Republicans unveiled but did not vote on in late July. Now, Mitch McConnell hopes to vote on a “skinny stimulus” -- a measure that is "purely and simply an effort to thread the needle within the Republican conference," Kilgore writes.
McConnell's plan will not include a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks, which has garnered some pushback from those within his own party.
"Republicans are claiming Senate passage of the 'skinny stimulus' will put pressure on vulnerable House Democrats to beg Nancy Pelosi to offer more concessions in future negotiations," Kilgore writes. "But it’s much easier politically for Democrats in both houses to make the absence of the wildly popular stimulus checks an excuse for opposing this proposal."
According to Kilgore, it's "pathetic" that McConnell doesn't have the votes to get the HEALS Act passed, which according to him is a "purely symbolic proposal on a party-line vote."
"You can argue it would be one tiny step back down the long road to a bipartisan deal, like the one that produced the CARES Act, but it’s just as easy to imagine the Senate conservatives concluding it’s the last thing Republicans need to do this year."
Read the full article over at Intelligencer.