WASHINGTON — With the U.S. House expected to pass a $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package on Friday, opposition to the plan is hardening among Republican senators, setting up a strictly partisan vote on President Joe Biden’s first, and arguably most consequential, legislative initiative.
As chances of a broad-based compromise dwindle, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been able to keep his 50-member caucus united around a simple argument: Democrats are trying to spend too much money on items not directly related to pandemic relief.
“Even mainstream liberal economists agree that our country does not need another massive firehose of borrowed money,” McConnell said on the Senate floor this week. “This isn’t April 2020. This is a different chapter.”
