Whither the White House in coronavirus negotiations?
Releasing another COVID-19 relief bill this week, Republican senators dismissed many of the president's explicit goals. It may be a sign that some in the party are looking past Nov. 3.
Releasing another COVID-19 relief bill this week, Republican senators dismissed many of the president's explicit goals. It may be a sign that some in the party are looking past Nov. 3.
Dear reader:
聽Republican senators can read polls as well as anyone. Right now, they鈥檙e staring at the numbers, and seeing a future where the GOP caucus is diminished 鈥� and the White House is occupied by President Joe Biden.
You can see this in the way they鈥檙e handling the new $1 trillion Senate version of the coronavirus relief bill.
Yes, it鈥檚 still early, there鈥檚 plenty of time for President Donald Trump to recover. All he needs to do is get his job approval rating up into the mid-40s and trim a few points off Mr. Biden鈥檚 poll lead. Then he鈥檇 be within the margin of error. Another 2016-like surprise victory would become a possibility.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his party colleagues don鈥檛 seem to be betting on that. For one thing, they鈥檙e dismissing stuff the White House wants in the bill out of hand.
President Trump pushed for the Senate to include a payroll tax cut, for instance. At one point he indicated he鈥檇 veto a relief bill that didn鈥檛 have one. It didn鈥檛 even make it into the first draft.
GOP Senators are also balking at a White House request for $1.75 billion for a new FBI headquarters building. It鈥檚 not related to COVID relief, they say.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know 鈥� that makes no sense to me. I鈥檇 be fine with stripping it out,鈥� said Sen. Lindsey Graham, normally a staunch Trump ally, on Tuesday.
Then there鈥檚 the negative things some Republican Senators are saying about the tranche of deficit spending the new bill represents.
鈥淭here is significant resistance to yet another trillion dollars,鈥� said GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Monday.
鈥淭he White House is trying to solve bad polling by agreeing to indefensibly bad debt,鈥� said Sen. Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, in a statement released Tuesday evening.
It鈥檚 more likely than not that Republicans and Democrats will come to agreement on a new relief bill eventually, given the dire state of the pandemic and US economy.
But still, for many in the GOP, it鈥檚 as if they鈥檙e looking past the current president and practicing the way they鈥檒l oppose anticipated big-spending Democratic presidential proposals to come.
聽Let us know what you鈥檙e thinking at csmpolitics@csmonitor.com.