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More than a decade ago, banking and industry bailouts begun during the George W. Bush administration and continuing early into the Barack Obama administration sparked resentment among the masses, cut adrift in recovery efforts after the devastating 2008 recession. This gave rise to the tea party, including a strong faction in Waco. Yet last week lawmakers such as Republican Congressman Bill Flores, elected regionally under the tea party aegis in 2010, backed a $2 trillion bailout package again picking industry winners and losers but this time also making $1,200 payouts to Americans left struggling in an economic calamity worsened still by governmental dithering amidst a bona fide plague. Have any lessons been learned?

Granted, we appreciate the difference in circumstances generating the Troubled Asset Relief Program of 2008 and the CARES Act signed into law Friday by President Trump. The former followed a period of excess and poor judgment infecting everyday folks buying homes they couldnt afford and wildly unregulated Wall Street profiteers and bankers. To quote Republican Sen. Patrick J. Toomey of the pandemic now idling millions of workers and hobbling businesses that, by their nature, defy social distancing: This is more like an act of God or war footing.

Yet President Trump contributed much to the coronavirus pandemic now surging and taking lives in the United States, not only by repeatedly downplaying concerns about spread of the contagion a month ago but failing to consult the National Security Council playbook on fighting pandemics. He failed to ignite sufficient production of test kits and let his colossal ego interfere with getting relief to governors showing more resolve and courage. Only Friday did he belatedly sign the Defense Production Act, compelling General Motors to produce thousands more ventilators for a likely surge of coronavirus patients. One wishes the president had taken this crisis as seriously as he did matters at our southern border.

We side with Republicans on scrapping certain out-of-place Democratic ideas, including requiring placement of workers on corporate boards aided by the CARES Act; thats a fight for another time than a full-blown pandemic. However, given billions of dollars in loans and credits, we applaud the insistence by Trump and the Democrats to prohibit stock buybacks, limit executive compensation and ensure half of federal assistance goes toward retaining employees for airlines and other companies benefiting in federal assistance. Yet the tea party lessons of 2009 should hold fast in 2020: We expect Congressman Flores and other lawmakers to exercise aggressive congressional oversight and demand disclosure of implementation of this massive package, as specifically written into the law, to prevent all abuse and waste. This includes an inspector general and an oversight board.

Trump on Friday vowed to ignore portions of the law giving Congress transparency into certain stimulus spending, insisting that such requirements violate the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. Which raises two key questions: Given that Republicans and Democrats just voted for this law, will they now live up to its terms jointly, even if this president resists? And why did the president sign this bill if he was resolved to violate it? Just what we need in a pandemic crisis: a potential constitutional crisis.

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EDITORIAL: Just what we need in a pandemic crisis - Waco Tribune-Herald