Editorial: Americans need help more than they need bipartisanship
Chronicle Editorial Board
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President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Republican senators in the Oval Office on Monday.Doug Mills / New York Times
In the interest of unity, the willfully misunderstood buzzword of the moment, President Biden is right to hear out the Republican senators offering a counter-proposal to his pandemic relief plan. But let’s not get carried away.
If Biden can draw GOP support by tinkering with the composition and scope of his stimulus package, wonderful. But dramatically diminishing aid that people, cities, states and the economy desperately need is not worth the minor symbolic victory of a few Republican votes. And the proposal put forward by the 10 senators who met with Biden on Monday suggests that they are asking for too much or, in terms of the relief Americans will get, asking for too little.
Biden told Senate Republicans their $600 billion COVID relief was too small
Senate voted Tuesday to proceed with a way to muscle through Biden s $1.9 trillion proposal without GOP support
The motion passed 50-49 on a party line vote
Biden made a virtual appearance at Senate Democrats weekly luncheon He said that he told Senate Republicans that the $600 billion dollars that they proposed was way too small, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said
Biden held a two-hour meeting with Senate Republicans on Monday night
Biden will not settle for a package that fails to meet the moment, WH said
Republican Senator Susan Collins said afterward it was a cordial meeting
Getty Images
We have come out of the most contentious political and election season of our lifetime. How should it impact your investment strategy for 2021?
Despite calls for unity, America remains very divided. With a new president and a power shift in the Senate, Democrats are optimistic about their new majority while Republicans are concerned about the future. Yet the markets have been resilient. In the face of political turmoil, a COVID economy and government restrictions, the markets had a strong 2020.
How should politics impact your investing, and what are the top considerations as we move forward?
Be as UNEMOTIONAL as possible.
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