'Let Mitch McConnell say no to it': Rep. Tim Ryan explains his plan to help the working class and give nearly every American over 16 years old $2,000 per month

• Rep. Tim Ryan, a moderate Democrat from Ohio, told Business Insider that Democrats need to be bold and include more aggressive stimulus measures in their next response to the pandemic.
• "I want everybody to say, 'Look, Democrats understood what I was going through, and they pushed hard,'" Ryan said in an interview. "Let Mitch McConnell say no to it."
• Ryan's frustrations seem to br shared by more progressive members of the Democratic caucus, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who voted against the most recent stimulus measure, saying it did not do enough for working families.
• "By giving Republicans what they wanted in [that] bill without extracting any real concessions from them, we eliminated any incentive for them to work with us on these other urgent needs," a spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez told Business Insider.
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Moderate and progressive Democrats in the House increasingly agree: Congress needs to do far more — and be seen as doing far more — for a working class that is struggling to make ends meet through what may prove to be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

State-wide stay at home orders put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 51,000 Americans as of Friday night, has also shuttered much of the US economy. More than 26 million people have filed for unemployment over the last five weeks, with about 1 in 6 Americans losing their jobs since the middle of March, as the Associated Press reported.

And while some governors are pushing to reopen states' economies, against the advice of health experts, House Democrats are looking at a different approach.

And though well aware of political realities, Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat generally viewed as a centrist, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New Yorker from the left-wing of the party, are frustrated that the Democratic-controlled House hasn't forced Republicans to at least vote down more progressive measures, such as a universal basic income or direct relief for Americans struggling to pay the rent, as part of the emergency response to COVID-19.

"I want everybody to say, 'Look, Democrats understood what I was going through, and they pushed hard,'" Ryan said in a phone interview. Earlier this month, Ryan, who made a run for the Democratic presidential nomination — and, earlier, for Rep. Nancy Pelosi's job as Speaker of the House — introduced legislation that would pay most Americans $2,000 a month, no strings attached, until unemployment falls to pre-pandemic levels.

Ryan wants to see proposals like that included in the next stimulus measure considered by the House, which he expects to be in the next couple weeks.

"Let Mitch McConnell say no to it," he said of the Republican Senate Majority Leader. "Coming with a bold proposal that's really going to speak to the immediate needs of the working class — it lets people know you understand where they are, and helps them. It's a win all the way around."

"Let everybody see what the Democrats are for," he argued. "Let that be the party brand."

The end product may not be a law, at least in 2020, but a potential political realignment as a new "New Deal" coalition.

In that, Ryan now sounds like the progressives in Congress. And while still a believer in the power of capitalism, and a "delicate balance" of government intervention and free markets, he admits: this crisis has shifted his views, and not just as to emergency measures.

"I'm certainly warming up to things like UBI [universal basic income] more so today than I was a few months ago," he said.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who co-chaired Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, is right there with Ryan. Elected as something of a moderate, defeating a liberal stalwart in a primary election, he has steadily moved left in the Trump years. Now he's cosponsoring the bill with Ryan to provide direct cash assistance, on an ongoing basis, to almost anyone 16 or older.

"As millions lose their jobs, homes, and healthcare, and struggle with emergency expenses," Khanna told Business Insider, "it's clear we need far more robust and sustained support for Americans for at least six months." The congressman said he's "moving full force ahead" to push for the measure to be included in the next stimulus package.

Still, while a desire for a more aggressive response to the pandemic may be growing in the Democratic caucus, only one member expressed their frustration by voting against the last package. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, a self-described democratic socialist, joined four fiscal conservatives in opposing a bill that largely provided aid for small to midsize businesses. Her office argued that it benefited far too many bankers, with the government's lending assistance program raking in $10 billion in fees for Wall Street, according to NPR.

"This bill also didn't provide funding for any of the other urgent needs facing Americans, like hazard for our frontline workers or health insurance for those who have lost their employer-sponsored health plans," a spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez told Business Insider. "And by giving Republicans what they wanted in this bill without extracting any real concessions from them, we eliminated any incentive for them to work with us on these other urgent needs."

Needs, the lawmaker said in an April 23 speech on the floor of the House, like targeted aid for renters and homeowners with payments coming up on May 1, 2020.

That's where the tenuous centrist-leftist alliance may be tested. Some progressives have been wary of UBI proposals, seeing them as a means to justify slashing other social programs. On the other hand, direct cash assistance is arguably a more empowering means of aiding those increasingly feeling the economic pain from the coronavirus, allowing recipients, as Rep. Ryan has argued, to decide for themselves what their priorities may be.

"I think that's the easiest thing to do," Ryan said. "To me it makes the most sense, and I would like to think it would have a broad coalition, at least among Democrats."

Leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, including First Vice-Chair Ro Khanna, have asked: Why not both? In an April 9 letter to House Speaker Pelosi, they called for $2,000 in direct assistance to go to all adults for up to a year, in addition to an expanded social safety net.

While the Democratic caucus as a whole may quibble over the details, however, it's clear that they are interested in a fight.

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