— TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: @ericgarcetti (This would be a big job in an administration that will certainly push for big infrastructure spending in the first quarter of 2021.)
Playbook this AM: Is Covid relief ever going to happen?
Washington’s Most Eager Man @stevenmnuchin1 said yesterday that getting a Covid deal before the election is going to be tough.
I agree
There are lots of real-world implications that @JStein_WaPo does a good job laying out
@stevenmnuchin1@JStein_WaPo BUT THERE’S SOMETHING that’s not getting nearly enough attention: It seems completely plausible that Covid relief not only will be delayed for now, but could be delayed for several months, and could even slip into late in the first quarter of 2021.
@stevenmnuchin1@JStein_WaPo LET’S explore that. FOR ARGUMENT’S SAKE, let’s assume the Democrats definitely keep control of the House -- as everyone is predicting.
Let’s just acknowledge the W.H. doesnt want a lame-duck covid bill. They often don’t know what they want
Trump appears to be living in lala land — as stated on @MariaBartiromo’s fox news show — as he said @SpeakerPelosi is the obstacle to a deal Bc she won’t sign some document. (I have idea what he’s talking about)
Playbook: HERE IS A REMARKABLE FACT: @realDonaldTrump and @SpeakerPelosi haven’t spoken in nearly one year. Their last one-on-one conversation was Oct. 16, 2019 -- they had a brief interaction at the State of the Union, before PELOSI ripped the president’s speech up.
In that time period, the nation has been turned upside down, shaken to the core by an unrelenting virus that has killed more 200,000 and hobbled a once vibrant economy.
BUT THROUGH IT ALL, PELOSI and TRUMP have remained distant, unified only in their distaste for one another.
ALL OF THE SUDDEN, though, their incentives are aligned: they both want a massive Covid deal in an unthinkably quick timeframe.
The tension: W.H. now desperate for a deal, led by Washington’s most eager man, @stevenmnuchin1
MCCONNELL said it’s unlikely anything will get done before Election Day.
@stevenmnuchin1 SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS and Hill sources tell us that they plan to work through this weekend, all next week and possibly next weekend to get a deal.
@stevenmnuchin1 WHO KNOWS WHY TRUMP WANTS THIS. He may want noise to fill the silence. Maybe he wants a bump in the stock market. We’re not mood readers or psychiatrists or psychics. This deal could’ve been cut 90 times between May and now.
TRUMP ADMIN HAS PROVEN the 18 acres on which the WH sits are a logic-free zone. Don’t waste your time trying to make sense of anything that comes out of or goes on there, bc it’s a fool’s errand&you’ll just end up with a headache &clenched jaw
TRUMP has spent the last few days vacillating between 2 different, irreconcilable poles: not wanting a Covid relief bill, because it includes a “bailout” of blue states, and wanting a “big deal,” which will definitely include a bailout of blue states. Square that circle. Or dont.
SO, LET’S NOT FOCUS ON WHETHER @stevenmnuchin1 and @SpeakerPelosi will strike some sort of compromise, because it’s ultimately unknowable. We’ve described the hurdles -- a huge money difference, policy differences, etc. -- between the two parties at the moment.
OK EVERYONE, REPEAT AFTER US: Stimulus talks are in the same place they have been since July.
THE TWO SIDES have not coalesced around a top-line figure, legislative language or any of the component parts of an agreement. The White House is divided on a deal, Hill Republicans are all over the place, and time is running out.
This may be the longest negotiations we’ve seen outside of health care reform in 2009-2010 -- and yet so little has changed over the last 10 or so weeks.