McConnell Casts Doubt on Coronavirus Deal: ‘It Doesn’t Look That Good Right Now’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is not optimistic Democrats and the White House will be able to strike a deal on a fifth coronavirus relief package.

“I wish I could tell you that we were going to get another package, but it doesn’t look that good right now,” McConnell said.

McConnell’s comments come just one day after the Senate rejected the GOP backed proposal, as IJR previously reported.

The Senate failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance the bill.

The only Republican to vote against the bill was Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

The bill would have provided around $300 billion in new coronavirus aid, but Democrats are calling for around $3 trillion.

Congress acted quickly earlier this year and passed four bills providing about $3 trillion in response to the pandemic.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) slammed the GOP for making it seem as though they are meeting the needs of the American people in their bill, as IJR previously reported.

Pelosi and Schumer said in a statement on Tuesday, the “emaciated bill is only intended to help vulnerable Republican Senators by giving them a ‘check the box’ vote.”

They also accused McConnell of stressing “that twenty Republican Senators intend to do nothing in the face of this historic crisis.”

In a letter Schumer penned to his Democratic colleagues on Sept. 3, he said McConnell was planning “another round of partisan games” for relief negotiations, as IJR previously reported.

Schumer previously predicted Republicans would be willing to negotiate with Democrats once they realized they were not going to give in to their demands.

He told CNN on Thursday, “Once they see the Democrats are not going to fold to this emaciated bill, which leaves so much out, the pressure will mount on them.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinsaid on Sept. 3 negotiations are “stuck” on specific policy issues, but most importantly, the top line.

According to Mnuchin, Pelosi “has refused to sit down and negotiate” unless Republicans “agree to something like a $2.5 trillion deal in advance.”