Thoughts on the Politics of the Coronavirus

(Bloomberg Opinion) --

This morning, I’m sharing a smattering of thoughts — from another day like no other, in a week like no other, in a year like no other.

• First, Congress needs to stay in Washington to deal with the coronavirus crisis. Yes, that involves risk for a body with many older members. If any of them don’t like it, they can always resign. But Congress needs to be ready to pass emergency legislation — and to, somehow, hold hearings and otherwise publicize specific problems that need administration action. Congress collectively has an amazing capacity for hearing what’s happening in the nation. That’s an important element of the political system, and it doesn’t depend on face-to-face meetings in lawmakers’ districts, which aren’t going to happen anyway.
   
• The second pandemic bill has finally been signed into law, several days later than it should have been. The next pandemic bill is going to have to be big and unprecedented — and fast — if it’s going to save small businesses across the United States. Everyone is going to try to get their pet ideas included. This is going to be the big test for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and the rest of the leadership of both chambers. They have plenty of experience; they need to get this done.
   
• There are two things I do think need to be in the upcoming “phase three” bill, or the one after that (since we know there will be one after that). First, elections are critical. Congress needs to act now to ensure that the November vote can take place successfully, regardless of the circumstances. That calls for, at the very least, no-excuse absentee voting and mail-in balloting, along with funding for the states to make it happen. And please, let’s get rid of the debt limit once and for all. The last thing the economy will need once it’s coming out of the recession will be worries about immediate austerity, or even worse, a government default. Congress and the president control the budget. Having a superfluous statutory debt limit only makes mischief, not good fiscal policy.
   
• Speaking of the president: He’s finally engaged in the coronavirus battle. Yuval Levin is correct that one of the strengths of the U.S. system is that not everything needs to be directed from the White House, but the actions of the executive branch of the federal government surely do, at least when they need to be closely coordinated. That means Trump has to firmly set in place a chain of command on the coronavirus fight, and back up whoever he puts in control. Instead, there seems to be chaos as usual across the administration, with parallel structures, policy fiefdoms and random presidential interventions. It is not working. Somehow, Trump needs to understand that his presidency, the economy and human lives depend on him fixing this.
   
• And while it’s good that Trump has been taking regular questions from the press during the crisis, it’s time for him to separate himself from the task-force briefings. If he absolutely can’t stand to share the spotlight, he can still make an opening statement, leave, and come back some other time to answer questions. The problem is that as long as the president is in the room, that’s where everyone’s attention is going to be, and not on the nuts and bolts that the staff has to offer.

1. Daniel McDowell, Aditi Sahasrabuddhe and Kindred Winecoff at the Monkey Cage on what the Federal Reserve has done.

2. Seth Masket on postponing elections.

3. Heath Brown at A House Divided on the pandemic and the politics of homeschooling.

4. Mike Konczal on what’s needed to prevent economic collapse.

5. Andrew Ross Sorkin’s ideas for the economic recovery.

6. Jonathan Cohn on the ventilator problem.

7. Ellen Nakashima on national security professionals for Joe Biden.

8. And Stuart Stevens on the Republican Party.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.