comments Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has for months stonewalled a new round of coronavirus emergency relief, specifically digging in on liability protections for businesses as a "red line" in negotiations with House Democrats and the Trump administration. But with a government shutdown looming at midnight on Friday, negotiations on a new bill have in recent days inched forward, with McConnell signaling he would yield on his key sticking point, apparently in part because he fears another failed attempt would damage the two Republican senators facing tight runoff elections in Georgia early next month. Still, McConnell will almost certainly not abandon his crusade for corporate immunity, which for months has stood in the way of much-needed relief for tens of millions of Americans struggling under the health and economic burdens brought about by the woefully uncontained coronavirus pandemic.