A chief economist says Mitch McConnell expects Trump to lose the election — and breaks down why that means there will be no stimulus money until

A chief economist says Mitch McConnell expects Trump to lose the election — and breaks down why that means there will be no stimulus money until February


Mitch McConnell will not risk his Senate leadership by forcing fellow Republicans to back a big stimulus bill, as he expects Donald Trump to lose in November, Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson said on Thursday.
"McConnell expects Trump to lose, and therefore for him to spend political capital to support Trump by forcing through a bill which would put his own leadership position at risk after the election, to me, doesn't make any sense," Shepherdson said at a webinar.
The Senate Majority leader will not persuade his own party to vote for a big relief spending bill because "splitting the party is death to the leader," Shepherdson said.
The economist expects a multi-trillion dollar bill to pass by the end of January, after the inauguration, which means there won't be any money flowing into the economy until February.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won't risk his position by forcing through a stimulus bill now, because he expects Donald Trump to lose next month's presidential election, Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in a webinar this week.

"I think McConnell expects Trump to lose, and therefore for him to spend political capital to support Trump by forcing through a bill which would put his own leadership position at risk after the election, to me, doesn't make any sense," Shepherdson said on Thursday.

"It's always wise to do things from McConnell's personal perspective, because that's how things operate in the Senate. He has enormous personal power, and he wants to be leader again — even if he has to be a leader in the minority," he said, referring to the potential for the Democrats to win a majority in the Senate next month.

House Democrats have put forward a $2.2 trillion stimulus plan, but McConnell has described it as "outlandish" and said this amount was too high.

On Thursday, he signalled his limits stand at $500 billion. "My members think what we laid out, a half a trillion dollars, highly targeted, is the best way to go. So that's what I'm gonna put on the floor," he said.

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