March 23, 2020

Democrats Derail Senate’s $1.8T Relief Bill

Schumer and Pelosi demand more special-interest funding, stoke recession.

At a moment when all Americans need to unite to address the China Virus pandemic and its economic impact, congressional Democrats have elected to play partisan politics.

On Sunday evening, as the Senate was preparing to move forward via a procedural vote on a $1.8 trillion stimulus bill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threw a last-second wrench in the works. Democrats lined up to vote against moving the bipartisan bill forward, offering the ridiculous excuse that it did too much to help corporations and not enough to help workers. That argument simply doesn’t hold water, as moving the legislation forward would have allowed continued debate.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell noted as much when he blasted Democrats for obstructing the relief bill. “We had a high level of bipartisanship in five different working groups over the last 48 hours, where members who were participating were reaching agreement,” McConnell said. “And then all of a sudden the Democratic leader and the speaker of the House shows up, and we’re back to square one.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had conferred with Schumer hours before the Senate vote in a clear effort to derail the bill, as she and Schumer work to create the false narrative that Democrats are the ones most looking out for American interests. The truth is they are still seeking to exploit a crisis to tank the economy with the hopes of reaping political benefit.

McConnell noted the negative economic toll the Democrats’ obstruction play would have, pointing to the fact that the market was almost certain to suffer another terrible day Monday. He concluded, “The notion that we have time to play games here with the American economy and the American people is utterly absurd.”

While the growing economic pain is hitting home for millions of Americans, Democrats are exploiting the crisis to push their own political agenda. And don’t forget that these lawmakers, many of whom are millionaires like Pelosi and Schumer, continue to collect their paychecks. How about Congress forego their paychecks until the China Virus crisis has passed?

Even The New York Times was surprised by the Democrats’ sudden obstructionist move, worriedly noting, “In voting to block action, Democrats risked a political backlash if they are seen as obstructing progress on a measure that is widely regarded as crucial to aid desperate Americans and buttress a flagging economy.”

What may have ignited the Democrats’ gambit is recent polling showing President Donald Trump’s approval rating rising as he has worked tirelessly and in a bipartisan effort to address the pandemic. As Power Line’s Steven Hayward observes, “[Democrats] are in a panic about the fact that Trump’s approval ratings are rising at the moment, and they are desperate to keep Trump from having a ‘win’ on policy amidst this crisis. A package will pass, probably soon, and while it may have many defects and require many sequels, the political interests of Democrats demands that they delay and degrade the process as much as possible to diminish Trump. I doubt this would be happening if it was a year ago, or a year from now. But it’s election year, and deranged Democrats are desperate.”

McConnell plans to hold a second vote to move forward on the Senate’s stimulus legislation later today, but the markets already plunged this morning, which is exactly what Schumer, Pelosi, and company wanted.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.