Congress weighs choice: 'Go big' on virus aid or hit 'pause'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is at a crossroads in the coronavirus crisis, wrestling over whether to “go big,” as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants for the next relief bill, or hit “pause,” as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insists.

It's a defining moment for the political parties heading toward the election and one that will affect the livelihoods of countless Americans suddenly dependent on the federal government. Billions in state aid, jobless benefits and health resources are at stake. As questions mount over Washington's proper role, it's testing the ability of President Donald Trump and Congress to do the right thing.

“These are the eternal debates in American history,” said Richard Sylla, a professor emeritus of economic and financial history at New York University.

“It’s a bit like what Andrew Hamilton was facing in 1790,” he said, describing the plan to have the new federal government assume the Revolutionary War debts of the states, despite protests of a bailout. It was, he said, as Hamilton framed it, “the price of liberty.”

As negotiations develop on Capitol Hill, the coronavirus response offers Congress an opportunity to shape the country's post-pandemic future but also carries the risk of repeating mistakes of past crises, including the 2008-09 recession, that history does not easily forget.

Trump and McConnell huddled late last week on next steps after rejecting Pelosi's plan. The Democratic speaker set the table with passage of the sweeping $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which includes $1 trillion to shore up states and cities to avert municipal layoffs, $1,200 stipends to Americans and other aid.

“We could have done bigger,” Pelosi told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

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