$2 trillion federal coronavirus stimulus bill stalled due to votes

“We’re fiddling here — fiddling with the emotions of the American people, fiddling with the markets, fiddling with our healthcare,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said about the result of a Senate vote on March 22, 2020.

“The American people expect us to act tomorrow and I want everybody to fully understand if we aren’t able to act tomorrow it will be because of our colleagues on the other side continuing to dither when the country expects us to come together and address this problem.”

As the American economy continues to falter and American businesses continue to hemorrhage money, senior lawmakers failed to approve a $2 trillion financial aid package. The bill has been delayed because of disputes over the bill’s details, namely Democratic concerns pertaining to restrictions on bailout recipients firing workers, buying back shares, and providing executive compensation.

In light of the steps that were taken to bail out coporations and Wall Street during the 2008 Great Recession, it makes sense that the current coronavirus financial aid efforts are being examined with more care before being passed.

That said, we have to ask: would the short-term benefit of saving thousands of American small businesses outweigh the long-term consequences of handing out large sums of money to bail out corporate powerhouses with few restrictions? Senators are still working on coming up with an answer to that question.

Senate leaders are set to meet again at noon on Monday, hopefully with some conclusion to this debate and an end to the “fiddling”.