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The new administration and new Congress in Washington are quickly running into the same old debates about Covid relief.
President Joe Biden has called for a $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package, but Republicans have already dismissed the idea of delivering everything on Biden’s wish list. Democrats, meanwhile, face some internal differences about the best strategy for passing another relief package and on how far they should press their narrow majorities in the House and Senate.
Biden’s plan a ‘non-starter’ for Republicans: “GOP lawmakers on Tuesday dismissed the argument by Janet Yellen, who’s awaiting Senate confirmation as Treasury secretary, that historically low interest rates mean major deficit spending isn’t a problem right now,” Bloomberg News noted. Even Republican moderates like Sens. Mitt Romney (UT) and Lisa Murkowski (AK), both of whom played a key role in enacting last month’s relief package, have questioned the need for another massive spending bill so soon on the heels of that $900 billion effort.