The Young Turks managing editor Jonathan Larsen warned on Hill.TV’s “Rising” Wednesday that corporate interests would make legislation shielding them from legal liability related to their efforts to remain in business amid the coronavirus outbreak a central priority in the next stimulus package.
Larsen told Hill.TV’s Saagar Enjeti and Krystal Ball that should lawmakers or the White House refuse to allow such a provision in the next coronavirus stimulus bill being considered by Congress, business leaders were prepared to pursue the liability shield through other means.
“My guess would be that regardless of whether it ends up in the next stimulus package we get, my guess is they’re going to pursue it legislatively, either in the courts, or some regulatory fashion…this is an absolute big priority for them, and you can understand why it would be,” Larsen said.
“If it’s not in the next stimulus package, the fight is not over,” he added.
Administration officials and Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have signaled support for such a position, and the White House’s top economic adviser warned about the prospect of reopening economies around the U.S. without such a plan in place during a recent interview.
“You’ve got to give the businesses some confidence here that if something happens, and it may not be their fault — the disease is an infectious disease — if something happens, you can’t take them out of business,” Larry Kudlow told CNBC.
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