Economist Stephen Moore said the next coronavirus stimulus package will help determine the outcome of the presidential election.
During a Monday appearance on Fox Business’ “Varney & Co,” Moore said the next stimulus phase is “so important” to Trump’s reelection campaign.
“If Trump gets this right, he has a very strong chance of getting reelected. If he gets it wrong, he has no chance of getting reelected,” Moore told host Stuart Varney.
Moore then compared the payroll tax cut Trump is advocating for with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's push to extend unemployment benefits.
“Let’s take the two big competing proposals. Trump wants payroll tax suspension, as do I, as does Larry Kudlow, as does Steve Forbes, as does Art Laffer, and we are showing that this will create several million new jobs,” he said. “Millions of jobs would be created by suspending the payroll tax for the rest of the year. Now, the competing plan is what Pelosi has in her bill, which would be to extend those unemployment benefits, which pay people more money for not working than working. She wants to extend that through January of 2021.”
Moore said if Trump agrees to Pelosi’s plan, there is “no way” he will be reelected because that plan “would destroy eight to 10 million jobs because people would not go back to work.”
Moore said most Americans would rather see a payroll tax cut.
“If you ask people, ‘What would you rather have? A payroll tax cut so you and I and everybody watching this show gets a 7.5% raise in their paycheck starting on, say, July 15th, or the Pelosi plan which spends hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars, sends that money to governors and mayors.’ It’s not even close.”
He said if Trump “sticks to his guns” it will help him win the election.
“If he agrees to any extension of those unemployment benefits, he is going to lose because you are not going to have a recovery,” he said. “There’s no recovery with the unemployment benefits extended. People will not go back to work.”