Donald Trump’s demands run into Mitch McConnell’s maneuvers

#He punctuated that call again #Wednesday morning: “$2000 ASAP!”

#McConnell is primed to tie the $2,000 relief check proposal, which could pass, with #Trump’s unrelated demand to strip tech companies of some liability protection — a forced marriage of policies that have nothing to do with each other besides #Trump’s interest that could ensure both measures die in the #Senate.

#New interest in doing ‘the right thing’

#That #Trump’s now concerned with doing “the right thing” on the #Covid relief checks after months of downplaying the pandemic has certainly changed political momentum.

#Republican #Sens. #Kelly #Loeffler and #David #Perdue, running for their political lives before twin #January 5 runoff elections in #Georgia, have both now endorsed the idea of larger checks, matching their #Democratic challengers.

#Trump plans to visit #Georgia and campaign for #Loeffler and #Perdue. #And #Loeffler, at least, said she’ll vote any way #Trump wants.

“I’ve stood by the #President 100% of the time, I’m proud to do that and I’ve said absolutely, we need to get relief to #Americans now, and I will support that,” she told reporters during a campaign stop #Tuesday.

#Rediscovering the debt

The contours of those races mean everything to #McConnell, who very much wants to stay majority leader, but to do so needs #Republicans to win at least one race to retain a 51-seat majority in the chamber.

#McConnell’s also got to contend with the larger number of #Republicans in the #Senate who will oppose them.

#Sen. #Pat #Toomey, the budget-conscious #Pennsylvania #Republican, told CNN’s #Jake #Tapper #Tuesday that larger checks would add to the national debt and send help to #Americans who don’t need it. The country’s economic problems, he argued, demand more focused relief.

“#We’ve got very acute problems within certain employment groups, right? #People who work for restaurants and hotels and travel and entertainment — devastated,” he said. “#But we do not have a global macroeconomic depression underway at all. #So it makes no sense to be sending this out to everybody who has a pulse.”

The #Democratic retort to the deficit argument is simple: #Why now and why not when #Trump was pushing tax cuts?

“#Senate #Republicans added nearly 2 trillion to deficits to give corporations a massive tax cut,” #Schumer, the #Senate minority leader, said #Tuesday. “#So I don’t want to hear it that it costs too much to help working families getting a check when they’re struggling to keep their jobs and pay their family families and live a normal life.”

#How we got to $600 checks

#Clearly #Republicans will have to square their concerns about deficit spending with their support for the populist outgoing #President who cares mostly about himself.

#Former #Rep. #Mia #Love, a CNN analyst, said she does not envy the choice #Republicans will have to make.

“They have got to decide whether they’re going to get back to the fiscally disciplined #Republican #Party, whether they’re going to continue to follow the #President. I do not see any win-win for them to continue to follow the #President at all costs,” #Love said #Tuesday.

#In fact, it was only after months of negotiations led by #Trump’s #Treasury secretary that #Republicans and #Democrats agreed on the $600 payments for many #Americans that the #President signed into law on #Sunday.

#McConnell, while he notably did not promise a vote on the larger checks, said the #Senate would consider the matter in some way this week, along with #Trump’s calls to undo what’s known as “#Section 230,” a piece of US telecommunications law that shields big tech companies from some lawsuits.

#Watch the clock

#What #McConnell did promise is a vote #Wednesday to override #Trump’s veto of the annual bill that authorizes #Pentagon policy, although #Sen. #Bernie #Sanders has indicated he’ll try to hold up that defense bill without a vote on the larger checks, putting him and #Trump strangely in league on that one issue. #Trump wanted to tie that defense bill to the tech company issue. #Now #McConnell will tie it to the relief checks instead.

#Time could be on #McConnell’s side since this #Congress ends on #January 5. #If the #Senate can’t or won’t act by then, all these measures would need new votes.

“#This is going to be the greatest operational challenge we’ve ever faced as a nation,” he said. “#But we’re going to get it done. #But it’s going to take a vast new effort that’s not yet underway.”