Article from For Liberty by Norm Leahy.

Congress and the White House are working on a package of fiscal responses to the COVID-19 outbreak and, according to news reports, they include a blast from the Great Recession past – federal bailouts.

Understandably, the White House pushes back at the notion of handing taxpayer cash to select businesses to cover losses is a bailout:

“This is not a bailout. This is considering providing certain things for certain industries. Airlines, hotels, cruise lines,” Mnuchin said, denying at least four times that the plans amounted to a “bailout.”

This is absolutely a bailout – own up to it and move on.

Move on to what? More of the same, it appears:

“This package isn’t going to include everything,” Mr. Mnuchin told reporters following a hearing on Capitol Hill. “This is round one. We’ll be back for more.”

Congress passed and Mr. Trump signed an $8.3 billion bill last week funding efforts to develop a vaccine to disease and fund prevention efforts across the country.

In their statement on Sunday, Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer said the legislation should mandate free testing for coronavirus and fund food assistance for children who typically receive free lunch at school.

As of Wednesday evening, lawmakers said they didn’t know how much the legislation would cost.

“We should not limit ourselves, given the potential consequence,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D., Mass.) told reporters on Tuesday. “This is an emergency.”

We should be wary of politicians passing bills about which they know neither the costs nor the effects. That’s a recipe for mischief.