Partisanship, hoarding undermine unity in crisis

Gordon L. Weil

Americans like to believe we all unite to fight an external threat.

But it's not true in the COVID-19 crisis.

Start with the inexplicable absence of toilet paper in the supermarket. Because almost all of it is manufactured in the U.S., there's no shortage. But the shelves were swept clear of it.

That's hoarding. By buying far more than you need, so you will have more of a product much later, you deprive a neighbor who needs some now. Supermarkets have imposed rationing.

Some suppliers, even of medical supplies, engage in price gouging.

Or what about young people who crowded together in Spring break revelry? They mistakenly believed either they wouldn't get COVID-19 or their case would be mild. They have shown no concern for older and vulnerable people who may pick up the virus from them with dire consequences.

What about the mindless naysayers? They remind us that many people die from automobile accidents or the annual flu, so we should not get upset about COVID-19, which has until now claimed many fewer victims, though there is no known limit to the losses. Don't worry about its deaths.

There are good people. Bad behavior should not obscure the selfless acts by many people to help others. Health care providers accept enormous personal risk in around-the-clock battles to save lives. Many people shop for the elderly and check on the condition of the most vulnerable. That's the spirit needed in this situation.

In a crisis of this scale, the people turn to their governments. The time comes when elected leaders must step beyond everyday partisan politics to provide not only material leadership but encouragement and hope for all.

Not this time. Perhaps for the first time in memory, leadership that rallies all people has been absent.

Takes the CARES Act, the $2 trillion piece of federal legislation that is designed to rescue workers, companies and the economy from the threat of a major recession. Except for one member of Congress, it was passed unanimously by both houses.

CARES is basically a big government spending bill, the necessary bookend to the Federal Reserve's action to cut interest rates. The GOP had to go along with the essentially Democratic concept, because the economy demanded government support. Some Republicans disliked expanding the national debt by big outlays, but had no choice.

The bill was negotiated by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, on behalf of President Trump, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, on behalf of the Democrats. Each side had to make unpleasant sacrifices to strike the necessary deal. If you want bipartisanship, this is what it looks like.

But when the bill, fully supported by both parties, was signed by the president, the only people surrounding him were Republicans. That amounts to trying to steal the credit for the compromise. Americans united to meet a national challenge? Hardly.

If there's one thing the former reality show host knows, it's how to steal scenes. His daily media briefings, even when he reads dryly from a prepared script, give him good television ratings, which he brags about. He wants to be seen as supreme crisis manager to boost his re-election campaign.

The Democrats allow a partisan Trump to dominate the media. If Joe Biden expects to be the Democratic candidate, where is he now? Or former President Obama, who could call for public action in response to the virus. Are Mike Bloomberg's billions only for his political campaign or could he help? At least Speaker Pelosi has reached out publicly.

Replacing the silent Democrats, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, not an immensely popular leader but one whose state is the hardest hit, holds an excellent daily briefing, which receives national coverage. Increasingly, he looks like the kind of competent, strong-willed person who could be the candidate called for by the times.

Aside from the domestic situation, it is evident that, without the U.S. as the leader of the world's response to COVID-19, there is no available alternative. But Secretary of State Pompeo spurned cooperation with what used to be America's closest allies, because he insisted they must agree to name the virus after China.

The result is that not only do the president and his aides fail to lead a unified America, but the U.S. fails to lead a unified international response.

The coronavirus and its effect on the economy are a costly tragedy. But so is the failure of the federal government to rally the American public and lead the world.

COVID-19 reaction boosts state government's role

States may rely less on federal government for public health, other policies

Gordon L. Weil

Dealing with the corona virus may be causing a political revolution.

The federal government cannot deal with the required all-out effort to combat the virus. It depends on state governments. When the crisis has passed, it's likely the country will find that the power of states has increased.

The states have always had the prime responsibility for public health and safety. But they have become dependent on the central supply of services and the greater funding found in Washington. Even now, many are virtually begging for federally supplied ventilators and emergency funding.

At the same time, governors are making their own decisions about meeting the crisis. State legislatures, included Maine's, have given governors almost dictatorial powers to take swift and broad action to allocate resources and mandate closures.

There really was no choice. Given the size of the country, the requirements for preserving health and safety must respond to local circumstances. A crisis may not be the same everywhere at the same time. Management is left to the elected leaders closer to threats.

Also, responding to health and safety emergencies requires armies of personnel – doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel, law enforcement, crisis managers. The federal government could never have been expected to maintain such staffs.

In this crisis, where the federal government might have been expected to supply masks, gowns, respirators and other critical supplies, it has failed. Instead, it has told the states that procurement is up to them with whatever help the federal agencies can provide.

More important than these issues is the obvious tension between President Trump and some of the states.

Until quite recently, Trump had continually tried to minimize the corona crisis. The health problems had led to economic setbacks, undermining the main support for his reelection effort. If people could see the Covid-19 situation as a mere passing flare-up, the economy could quickly recover.

The president tried to convince people that many die from the annual flu or auto accidents without disrupting the country and its economy. The fact that both could be controlled and limited make them sharply different from a virus that is uncontrolled and whose fatal spread is worldwide.

But governors are on the front lines. Some have seen cases mounting rapidly, including deaths. They could not obtain, either from the federal government or through their own efforts, enough tests, masks and ventilators to stop the increase. Maine gets 5 percent of what it requests.

The Maine CDC reports daily with hard data on medical and social measures relating to Covid-19. A federally endorsed model, said to be close to the one the White House is using, differs considerably from Maine's current baseline. That could call the federal forecast into serious doubt.

The fight against Covid-19 promises to be a long one, no matter how much people would like to believe that Trump's hopes and expectations can be achieved.

When the worst of the crisis has passed, it is likely that states will not fade back into purely subordinate roles to the federal government. The virus may have inoculated many states against excessive dependence on the federal government.

Beyond that, governors have had the experience of partisanship coming ahead of dealing with the crisis as one country. Washington was the first state hit hard by the virus. Speaking of Gov. Jay Inslee, who had sought the Democratic presidential nomination, Trump said, “ He's a failed presidential candidate. He's a nasty person. I don't like the governor of Washington,” so he had Vice President Pence talk with him.

Of the nation's governors, Trump said, “I want them to be appreciative.” It seemed like the federal government was doing them a favor in providing assistance instead of helping them take care of their state in the national emergency that he had declared.

The states' relationship with the federal government is coming up short. In part, that's because the states have allowed some of their powers, safeguarded in the Constitution, to slip to the federal government. The reason is simple: money.

The federal government can borrow and create money, neither which can be done at the state level. Politically, states have found it easier to depend on funds from the growing federal debt than on paying their own way to protect public health and safety. States have turned to the federal government for almost everything.

The Covid-19 crisis has shown states the consequences of excessive dependence on a federal government with different priorities than meeting their basic needs.

Congress could come up with more money to help states to deal with Covid-19. But that aid may not lead states to overcome their doubts about relying on the federal government.

COVID-19 Act unity hides deep partisan divide

Gordon L. Weil

Earlier this week, the Senate opened a session with a foul blast of partisanship.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell discussed the day's schedule and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded. Next came a short break when no senator may speak. Sen. Susan Collins asked for agreement of all senators present, called “unanimous consent,” so that she could make a speech.

Schumer objected. Collins exclaimed, “This is unbelievable.” Another GOP senator furiously blurted out that what Schumer did was “b--- s--t.”

Schumer said he had thought the arrangement between the leaders was to proceed first with two routine voice votes, before any speeches. McConnell proceeded, and the votes were taken. Collins then spoke, blasting the Democratic position on the coronavirus recovery bill.

The rest of the day, one GOP senator after another shed sham tears about Schumer's alleged mistreatment of Collins, proclaimed to be the mild and moderate senator from Maine. Their comments reflected the extravagant partisanship that continued for days.

To top it off, one Maine news report later implied that Collins' statement was a comment on the process having bogged down in partisan bickering on the Covid-19 rescue bill, when it was about her having to wait five minutes to speak.

Given the seriousness of the coronavirus crisis, voters might expect that Republicans and Democrats would try to work together rapidly on a compromise. This was the time for expressions of bipartisan resolve.

Instead, senators staged their remarks for later partisan use. The Senate battles were really skirmishes in the presidential election. Each side was trying either to get its policies adopted or to create a platform for themselves and their presidential candidate to use later this year.

At the same time, senators were fearful of ignoring the pressing public panic and the need to protect the incomes of working people and struggling companies. While the White House, Treasury and Senate Democrats negotiated, others postured.

To end debate on a bill, 60 votes are required. That super-majority would mean that, on this legislation at least, bipartisan support would have to be achieved.

But from the outside, the negotiations on the legislation looked almost purely partisan. Based on a meaningless House bill, with the House out of session, the Republicans charged Senate Democrats with seeking wild add-ons in return for their votes. The Democrats charged the GOP with seeking to give a blank check to big business.

Any weapon to belittle the other side would do. Hence, the florid GOP defense of Collins over what was truly a minor matter.

The real reason why the Senate wasted valuable time in coming up with the needed help for the economy is that it is broken.

The Republicans hold the White House and are the Senate majority. The Democrats are the House majority and have enough votes to block Senate action on major bills. There is no center in national politics. Moderate politics seems to be dead.

The Covid-19 crisis has huge implications for public health and the economy. It requires joint action of the parties and clear, strong national leadership. Only the scope of the crisis has brought some limited cooperation. Given the political posturing, it's not likely to last.

Too much power is given to both parties' Majority Leader. Fortunately excluded from the negotiations, McConnell stirred panic, trying to get the Democrats to drop their demands for spending safeguards. An urgent response was more important to him than good public policy, even when spending $2 trillion was at stake.

The dictatorship of the Majority Leader could end any time a majority of senators decided they should share in control. Maine's bipartisan Legislative Council, which controls the state's House business, is a good alternative model.

Senators need to see themselves as equal members of a deliberative body and not simply as partisan soldiers whose main goal is re-election. Any 51 senators could seize power and set the Senate rules. Right now, it is erroneously believed that this option is available only to the Majority Leader.

The CARES Act on Covid-19 is not the last word. Congress must accommodate and manage basic changes to health care and the economy caused by the pandemic.

Despite the forced Covid-19 bipartisanship, divided government is proving to be unworkable. If the senators cannot play their role as the wiser heads in government, the solution may be left to the voters.

If the federal government continues to falter, the elections would need to provide a clear result. That's what happened in the most recent British elections when the Conservatives won a stunning victory, enabling them to act decisively.

With compromise almost impossible, whichever party wins in November needs to win big.