THURSDAy, MARCH 19 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ re A
the coronavirus outbreak
collateral that would be paid back
in full.
“If you’re coming to me and just
saying, ‘We just want a bunch of
taxpayer money, just give it to us,’
I’m not going to do that,” Hawley
said.
[email protected]
[email protected]Josh Dawsey, Paul Kane and seung
Min Kim contributed to this report.should be the main beneficiaries.
Sen. Josh Hawley (r-mo.) simi-
larly has said relief should be
focused on working families so
Americans see that taxpayer mon-
ey is being handled well. “Let’s
make sure we’re taking care of
them first,” he said.
As for bailing out airlines or
other industries, Hawley said
“very strict conditions” must be
set, such as a loan secured byis less acceptable to bail out par-
ticular industries.”
Some Trump allies in the Sen-
ate are calling for adjustments to
the stimulus proposal. Sen. rick
Scott (r-fla.) wrote in a fox Busi-
ness op-ed article Wednesday that
“large corporations that have en-
joyed years of growth and pros-
perity” s hould not receive taxpay-
er dollars and that small busi-
nesses and gig-economy workerslater, after obama took office,
Congress passed a bailout of the
automotive industry.
Both measures became contro-
versial, leading to a populist back-
lash against government initia-
tives that appeared to pick win-
ners and losers during a crisis.
on the right, the tea party
movement formed preaching
austerity and prioritizing the bal-
looning federal debt. The tea par-
ty powered the republican wave
election in 2010 that installed
To omey, Sen. marco rubio (r-
fla.) and other stars in the Senate
and House.
one of the victims that year
was Sen. robert Bennett (r-
Utah), whose vote for TArP be-
came the top issue in his reelec-
tion campaign. Te a party a ctivists
besmirched him as “Bailout Bob,”
and at the 2010 state republican
convention he lost the party’s
nomination to mike Lee, who
went on to win the seat that fall.
Another victim was rep. Bob
Inglis (r-S.C.), who this week re-
called the fierce backlash in his
district in early 2009, after he had
voted for both TArP and the bail-
out for auto manufacturers.
“I remember sitting in an office
in downtown Greenville, facing
the windows and watching
throngs of people walking to a
rally on main Street carrying
homemade signs: ‘Throw the
bums out!’ ‘Socialism!’ ‘No bail-
outs!’ ” Inglis said. “Here we were
discussing the start of my 2010
campaign and we were just whis-
tling past the cemetery because
here’s all these people, and you
could hear the intensity in their
voices.”
Inglis lost overwhelmingly in
the republican primary to Trey
Gowdy, who ran to his right and
went on to win the seat.
A similar movement formed on
the left, as occupy Wall Street
took shape among liberals a nd
powered a decade-long leftward
shift in Democratic politics,
which found expression in the
presidential candidacies of Sens.
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Eliza-
beth Warren (D-mass.).
former labor secretary robert
reich, a leading voice among lib-
erals on domestic policy, said:
“Politically it’s fine and good to
bail out individuals, to provide
direct subsidies, extended unem-
ployment insurance, paid sick
leave, expanded medicaid — a ll of
that makes a great deal of sense. Itbenefit from the administration’s
plan. one senator raised a hand
and asked if they should instead
call them “freedom payments,”
which prompted laughter, ac-
cording to a person briefed on the
closed-door meeting who spoke
on the condition of anonymity to
be candid about the discussion.
Trump, who has been fielding
calls from business executives for
days, has been focused on stop-
ping the stock market from cra-
tering and preventing the unem-
ployment rate from spiking into
the double digits. He h as advocat-
ed for a sweeping stimulus plan —
so much so that when aides pre-
sented him with a $850 billion
proposal, he encouraged a $1 tril-
lion price tag, according to sever-
al people familiar with his think-
ing.
Trump “doesn’t give a [exple-
tive]” about how his rescue plan
affects the federal debt, according
to a White House official who
spoke on the condition of ano-
nymity to be frank. “It’s all about
the markets and the economy for
him. It’s all about the jobs num-
bers.”
Trump’s mind-set aligns with a
broader GoP move away f rom the
alarmism about federal deficits
toward a more blasé view about
government red ink, a shift that
predates the coronavirus.
Trump contended during the
2016 campaign that he could
eliminate the debt in eight years,
but during his first three years in
office the debt has surged from
$20 trillion to $23 trillion. one
adviser who has discussed the
matter with Trump said the presi-
dent does not believe voters will
be concerned about adding to the
debt.
outgoing acting White House
chief of staff mick mulvaney last
month told an audience at o xford
University: “my party is very in-
terested in deficits when there is a
Democrat in the White House.
The worst thing in the whole
world is deficits when Barack
obama was the president. Then
Donald Trump became president,
and we’re a lot less interested as a
party.”
In late 2008, Congress passed
the Troubled Asset relief Pro-
gram, which allowed the Treasury
Department to buy toxic assets
from financial institutions as a
means to keeping big banks from
going under during the subprime
mortgage crisis. A few monthsmany of his conservative allies
rose to power on the strength of a
grass-roots movement forged in
opposition to the bank bailouts
during the 2008 financial crisis
and President Barack obama’s
subsequent economic stimulus
package.
Scrutiny of Trump’s plan con-
tinues to grow as some republi-
cans express unease about its
scope and leading Democrats
warn against federal giveaways to
corporations without account-
ability measures that would en-
sure taxpayer money does not
fund stock buybacks or executive
pay.
And there is some trepidation
within the administration about
the political risks associated with
the perception that industries
spend money as they wish — as
well as uncertainty about how,
exactly, all of the money would be
spread around, according to offi-
cials involved in the discussions
who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to describe the private
talks.
Trump’s ability to enact his
plan and weather the turbulence
could have an enormous impact
on his political fate and deter-
mine whether he is remembered
as this era’s Herbert Hoover, who
was president at the onset of the
Great Depression, or its franklin
roosevelt, his successor who
guided the nation out of econom-
ic and geopolitical turmoil.
“This is Trump’s World War II,”
said Stephen moore, a Heritage
foundation fellow and an infor-
mal Trump economic adviser. “It’s
really critical to not only whether
he is reelected but how he will be
judged by history.”
Trump, keenly aware that the
state of the economy could deter-
mine whether he gets reelected,
has been fixated in recent weeks
on stock market d eclines and sees
the plan shepherded by Treasury
Secretary Steven mnuchin as cru-
cial to providing confidence to
investors and ensuring an eventu-
al recovery.
“Everybody seems to want to go
big and they want to get to the
recovery, the big day,” Trump said
at a news conference Wednesday.
He added, “There’s going to be a
comeback very, very quickly, as
soon as this is solved.”
for now, Trump is benefiting
from quick support from even
some of the staunchest spending
hawks inside the republican Par-
ty, many of whom are hearing
desperation from anxious busi-
ness leaders and constituents as
vast sectors of the economy are
shutting down.
Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (r-Pa.)
— who built a national profile
years ago as the head of a hard-
line small-government advocacy
group — s aid this crisis “is not like
an ordinary recession or even a
severe recession. This more like
an act of God or war footing.”
To omey said comparing cur-
rent proposed legislation with the
financial industry bailout of
2008, which he opposed, is mis-
guided because “those were
caused by a bubble in real estate
and financial institutions being
overleveraged, all kinds of human
error.”
“It’s a different thing when a
lethal pathogen affects large
numbers of Americans,” Toomey
said.
Senate majority Leader mitch
mcConnell (r-Ky.) has vowed that
the Senate will not recess before
reaching bipartisan agreement
on the stimulus legislation. And
his advice to his conservative col-
leagues: rally together even if
bills are fiscally problematic.
“my counsel to them is to gag
and vote for it anyway, e ven if they
think it has some shortcomings,
and to address those shortcom-
ings in the bill that we’re in the
process of crafting,” mcConnell
said Tuesday.
When mnuchin visited with
republican senators at their
Tuesday lunch, the secretary
pleaded with them not to use the
politically charged word “bail-
out” in describing the proposed
relief for Boeing, one of many
large corporations that stands to
bAIlout from A
Vast infusion for industry d efies what once was GOP dogma
KAtHerIne Frey/tHe WAsHIngton Post
Sen. Patrick J. toomey (R-Pa.) in late January during the impeachment proceedings. toomey said comparing current proposed legislation with the financial industry bailout
of 2 008, which he opposed, is misguided because “those were caused by a bubble in real estate and financial institutions being overleveraged, all kinds of human error.”That’s right! With our BUY NOW, PAY LATER
special off er, you can also BUY 2, GET 2 FREE!Quality, energy saving windows
to beautify your home..Schedule your free in-home
consultation today.
301-960-0385 | 7 03 -831-WindowNation.com$0 DOWN | 0 DOWN PAYMENTS | 0% INTEREST
UNTIL 2021 FOR QUALIFIED BUYERSGettwofree*Off er valid on Potomac and Imperial LS Models. 4 Window Minimum. Cannot be combined with any other off er. Excludes labor.
**Full Purchase Price Must be Paid in Full Within 12 Months of Installation Date. Subject to credit Approval. Off er Ends 2/29/
S0129-3x2.Retropolis
Stories of the past, rediscovered.
washingtonpost.com/retropolis