A CNBC/Change Research survey of voters in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin found overwhelming opposition to the Senate Republicans’ coronavirus stimulus approach. Sixty-nine percent want the federal government to give aid to states to help them avoid massive budget cuts. Sixty-two percent want an extension of the federal $600-a-week unemployment insurance enhancement. And 58 percent are opposed to giving legal immunity to corporations from COVID-19 related lawsuits.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell found it impossible to get any consensus within his caucus for a bill. The end product satisfied no one. For example, Senator Rick Scott served two terms as the governor of Florida, so you might expect him to be sympathetic to the concept of aiding states that are now facing huge budget shortfalls. But he’s too much of an ideologue to have any empathy for his successor: “I’m very concerned about the amount of money we’re talking about. What I don’t want to do is bail out the states. That’s wrong.”
Maybe Sen. Scott would be less perturbed if he actually read his party’s bill: Continue reading.