A group of G.O.P. senators appears less interested in helping people make it through the pandemic than it does in hobbling the incoming Biden Admin.. Led by Sen. Pat Toomey, of Pennsylvania, a group of Republicans is trying to include a stipulation in the covid-19 bill that the Fed must gain congressional approval before restarting a series of emergency-lending programs it introduced earlier this year, after the stock market plummeted and problems emerged in the credit markets. You may ask what tying the hands of the central bank has to do with the other elements of the spending bill, which include extending unemployment benefits, keeping restaurants and other small enterprises in businesses, preventing a wave of evictions of people who have fallen behind on their rents, and providing another cash handout to low- and middle-income families. The answer is virtually nothing. "
At www.newyorker.com
