Radio Recap – Senate Deadlocked on Phase 3 Coronavirus Stimulus

As we came on the air today, Congress was deadlocked on the relief package for America.

On today’s Jay Sekulow Live we discussed the congressional debate over the Phase Three economic stimulus package.

What a time to have gridlock in Washington, DC. This is hard for me to believe. They worked through the weekend, trying to come up with a package which would be part of the staging of relief for companies, small businesses, and American citizens to weather through this virus attack that we have. I think that’s what you have to call it now.

At the same time that the country is trying to get through it, the Senate can’t get there. As someone who spent three weeks on the floor of the Senate, oftentimes until way past midnight, this is mind boggling to me.

I asked ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett if this was just part of the culture. Thann made the following point:

The answer to that is yes and it has to change. We said on the broadcast last week that that was not going to be the case this time. It looked like there was going to be some bipartisanship. It looked like the negotiations were going well.

I will just tell you, there were smaller groups of Republicans and Democrats that put together various parts of this package and it went to the floor of the Senate last night. Then that bipartisanship fell apart. I think part of the reason that happened was because Speaker Pelosi of all people interjected herself into the Senate business. You don’t want to point fingers at this time. I hope it will get done.

Unfortunately I think the culture of Washington, DC won out last night. That needs to be fixed today.

We also discussed how the Supreme Court issued some opinions today but let me tell you what they did not do. They did not meet as the court. That’s how they have traditionally done that. They meet. They read little excerpts of the opinion. Today they decided not to do that. They just issued the opinions online. It is good that they are getting into the technology of the 21st century but they were forced to do it with the age of the justices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I was supposed to be arguing there next week at the Supreme Court. That’s off. I’m sure they’ll issue an order in the next day or two. Technically, that is the end of the argument term. Now they may hold arguments in the summer or maybe early fall, we don’t know.

You can listen to the entire episode with further discussion and analysis of the current state of the economic stimulus packages here.