‘They hated each other and they blew it’

CNBC’s Jim Cramer took aim at the federal government’s failure to pass a second coronavirus stimulus relief bill to aid ailing small businesses on Tuesday. 

“They blew it. They can talk all they want, they blew it,” said Cramer on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street. “It failed. They hated each other and they blew it.”

Washington has been at a stalemate for weeks over a second Covid-19 relief bill. While the Democratic-held House passed a $3.4 trillion proposal in May, the Trump administration has offered to inject only $1.3 trillion more into efforts to boost the economy during the pandemic.

“It’s done. They had a chance,” said Cramer. “I think they made a decision that you would have to keep these people on until we had a vaccine, so neither party agreed to anything and it’s too late. There’s nobody to give PPP to in restaurants.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are set to talk Tuesday morning after Democrats released a $2.2 trillion proposal on Monday evening. Many Republicans have expressed concerns about adding to the trillions the U.S. has already spent to fight the outbreak and ensuing economic damage.

“There comes a time when you have to admit that only the strong survive,” said Cramer.

Cramer took to Twitter earlier on Tuesday to express frustration over the lack of relief. 

“The disease killed these but the congress could have saved them,” Cramer said in a tweet on Monday. “It and the administration failed us.. they let us down and now we are losers. You can’t keep these places open.  They failed us.. time to move on Helped all the employees we can..”

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Cramer owns Bar San Miguel and co-owns The Longshoreman, both in Brooklyn, New York. He also co-owns The Summit DeBary Inn in New Jersey. It is unclear if Cramer closed any of his establishments. 

“I’m going to be candid, we ran out of PPP about three months ago,” Cramer said. “Some of us have just decided to pay lots of employees to do nothing. How many months can I pay my 15 people to do nothing? Well I ran out, I did it for these months, it was nice,  did my best.”

“They’re still talking as if everyone is waiting. We gave up. I gave up on my inn, I gave up on my restaurants,” Cramer added. 

Cramer emphasized that other efforts to help small businesses, like outdoor seating, were not enough to replace the aid from Congress. 

“The outside works until its freezing, the outside works until it rains, the outside works until the department of transportation says you can’t have many seats, the outside works until the police say you’ve got social distancing problems. I’ve seen everything,” Cramer said. 

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