Marco Rubio warns of ‘long-term structural damage’ to U.S. economy without additional stimulus

Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, on Tuesday warned of “long-term structural damage” to the U.S. economy and an unfixable national debt if Congress doesn’t approve additional federal stimulus to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

He said he wouldn’t be advocating for policies like the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides forgivable loans to help small businesses make payroll, in normal times.

“But these are not normal times,” Mr. Rubio told radio host Hugh Hewitt. “And if we don’t act now on things like PPP and more, there is going to be long-term structural damage to the economy that’s going to make it almost impossible to ever get the debt under control and not to mention grow our economy again.”

Mr. Rubio said there’s now a debate between lawmakers who want to pass legislation that has “nothing to do” with the pandemic and “others who feel like we need to stop spending any money at all and let the free market fix it.”

“Here’s the problem, and that is that what we’re facing now is a national emergency,” he said. “And in times of a national emergency like this, the government has to play a greater role than it would in normal times.”

Mr. Rubio’s stance is in line with public statements from Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, who has said that President Trump is willing to spend essentially whatever it takes to keep the economy from completely collapsing.

But many Republicans are wary of spending more money on top of the nearly $3 trillion that Congress has already authorized in response to the pandemic.

Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing an approximately $3.5 trillion bill the House passed in May that extends boosted unemployment benefits and provides another round of stimulus checks for Americans, but also includes items tied to marijuana, elections and immigration.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, indicated to her members on Monday that she sees negotiations on the next comprehensive package spilling into next week.

Mr. Trump said Monday that he might take executive action to cut payroll taxes. Senate Republicans did not include a payroll tax cut in their $1 trillion offer last week.