Senate Dems stomp GOP ‘skinny’ stimulus

Republicans lost their fight Thursday to pass a so-called “skinny” coronavirus stimulus package.

The Senate failed to bring the measure to a vote when it got just 52 votes — far short of the 60 needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster threat.

All Democrats voted against the $500 billion package. They were joined by conservative Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who objects to any major new stimulus plan.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hoped to use the bill to help rescue up to seven endangered GOP lawmakers facing difficult reelection bids.

With no Democratic support, McConnell (R-Ky.) wanted to line up all 53 Republicans to back the scaledback $500 billion Republican measure that would:

Provide $105 billion to help schools reopen.

Enact a shield against lawsuits for businesses and others moving ahead to reopen.

Create a scaled-back $300-per-week supplemental jobless benefit.

Write off $10 billion in earlier debt at the U.S. Postal Service.

Set aside $31 billion for a coronavirus vaccine, $16 billion for virus testing and $15 billion to help child care providers reopen.

Provide $20 billion for farmers.

Dedicate $258 billion for another round of paycheck protection subsidies.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( D-N.Y.) predicted that Thursday’s GOP defeat would push McConnell (photo) back to the negotiating table, as an earlier filibuster in March helped make the $2 trillion rescue bill more generous.

“But [Thursday’s] bill is not going to happen because it is so emaciated, so filled with poison pills, so partisanly designed,” Schumer said.

The usually confident McConnell admitted to CNN that incumbent GOP senators in Iowa, Georgia and Montana are in trouble. That’s along with four GOP senators who are now trailing Democratic challengers.

It’s not clear whether the failed effort to pass a “skinny” bill will do the trick for those Republicans. They can tout their claims to have done something, but the failure to even get it through the upper chamber underlines their inability to actually get aid to hard-pressed Americans.

What is clear, however, is that all Congress will do before the Nov. 3 election is pass legislation to avert a government shutdown. The outcome of the election promises to have an outsize impact on what might be possible in a postelection lame-duck session, with Democrats sure to press for a better deal if Democrat Joe Biden unseats President Trump.