Senate Republicans “Struggle” To Make The Case Against Democrats’ “Increasingly Popular” COVID Relief Package

While Senate Republicans Oppose Rescue Plan With New Round Of Direct Checks And Urgent Resources For Vaccine Distribution And School Reopening, Bipartisan Support Grows Across The Country

A series of new reports in recent days demonstrate how Senate Republicans are losing their crusade against President Biden and Democrats’ COVID-19 rescue package as they “struggle” to make the case against the “increasingly popular” legislation. Despite the GOP’s continued opposition to the American Rescue Plan, Democrats’ proposal for immediate action “enjoys strong, bipartisan support nationwide.” Republicans’ month-long focus on obstruction of additional coronavirus relief comes as the United States crosses the grim milestone of half a million American deaths in this pandemic in less than a year.

While Republican politicians in Washington try to derail the bill, many local Republican elected officials across the country agree that Democrats’ rescue plan is “badly needed federal aid.” The reality is “a broad majority of Americans support the assistance, including large numbers of Republicans” and the COVID-19 rescue package’s core provisions are increasingly popular even among GOP voters –– seven in 10 Americans support the Democrats’ aid package and four out of five say the $1,400 direct relief checks are important. Senate Republicans’ continued opposition to the bill “comes with political risks” as they gear up to reject critical aid for state and local governments and “may soon find themselves voting against high-profile allies” back home.

“Senate Republicans mismanaged the coronavirus response for months, let the virus spread out of control, and are now prioritizing obstruction against a relief package that includes direct checks, critical resources to ramp up vaccine distribution and urgent funding to safely reopen our schools,” said DSCC spokesperson Stewart Boss. “The death toll is rising to half a million Americans, and millions more have lost their jobs and had their lives upended. Republican senators playing political games and turning their backs on struggling Americans isn’t just the wrong approach to this public health and economic emergency, it’s a stunning refusal to listen to the bipartisan support for this overwhelmingly popular rescue plan across the country.”

The American Rescue Plan includes a number of important provisions: a new round of direct relief checks to people who need them, expanded vaccine distribution to get shots into people’s arms faster, urgent resources to help more schools reopen safely, extended emergency unemployment insurance, protections for renters and homeowners, billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments to keep first responders and health care workers on the job, boosts to programs supporting small businesses, and much more.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

New York Times: Republicans Struggle to Derail Increasingly Popular Stimulus Package

• Republicans are struggling to persuade voters to oppose President Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan, which enjoys strong, bipartisan support nationwide even as it is moving through Congress with just Democratic backing.

• The arguments have so far failed to connect, in part because many of its core provisions poll strongly — even with Republicans.

• More than 7 in 10 Americans now back Mr. Biden’s aid package, according to new polling from the online research firm SurveyMonkey for The New York Times. That includes support from three-quarters of independent voters, 2 in 5 Republicans and nearly all Democrats. The overall support for the bill is even larger than the substantial majority of voters who said in January that they favored an end-of-year economic aid bill signed into law by President Donald J. Trump.

• The Republican pushback is complicated by the pandemic’s ongoing economic pain, with millions of Americans still out of work and the recovery slowing. It is also hampered by the fact that many of the lawmakers objecting to Mr. Biden’s proposals supported similar provisions, including direct checks to individuals, when Mr. Trump was president.

• Polls suggest that could be a tough fight for Republicans, as many of the bill’s provisions are widely popular. In the SurveyMonkey poll, 4 in 5 respondents said it was important for the relief bill to include $1,400 direct checks, including nearly 7 in 10 Republicans. A similarly large group of respondents said it was important to include aid to state and local governments and money for vaccine deployment.

• The fractured debate over the plan in and outside of Washington has also been largely overshadowed by the tumult within the Republican Party itself, where the specter of Mr. Trump and his impeachment over the Jan. 6 Capitol attack looms large and threatens to continue upending efforts to focus on conservative efforts to frame the legislation as overreaching and ineffective. (Mr. Trump, as recently as this week, was hammering Republicans for an unwillingness to accept direct payments.)

Washington Post: Biden is winning Republican support for his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. Just not in Washington.

• Republicans in Congress overwhelmingly oppose the relief bill, casting it as bloated and budget-busting, with some heaping particular scorn on a measure to send $350 billion in assistance to states and cities. Should Biden go ahead without their approval, GOP leaders say, it will prove that his mantra of bipartisanship rings hollow.

• But to many Republicans at city halls and statehouses across the country, the relief package looks very different. Instead of the “blue-state bailout” derided by GOP lawmakers, Republican mayors and governors say they see badly needed federal aid to keep police on the beat, to prevent battered Main Street businesses from going under and to help care for the growing ranks of the homeless and the hungry.

• “It’s not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue,” said Dyer, who became mayor last month following a long career as the city’s police chief. “It’s a public health issue. It’s an economic issue. And it’s a public safety issue.”

• Surveys show that a broad majority of Americans support the assistance, including large numbers of Republicans. Only a minority among Republican voters agree with GOP lawmakers that the aid package is too large, polls have found.

Associated Press: From city halls, the plea for COVID-19 aid is bipartisan

• The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has squeezed many city budgets and prompted mayors and local leaders — both Republicans and Democrats — to look to Washington for help.

• But Republicans in Washington have stood in the way of sending federal aid to cities, leaving local leaders and public employee unions worried they’ll get shortchanged as Congress negotiates the next COVID-19 response package.

• The GOP posture comes with political risks. In rejecting a bill with help for lower governments, Republican lawmakers may soon find themselves voting against high-profile allies and forcing those constituents to depend on President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats.

• Leaders at public employee unions also made clear votes on the bill would not be forgotten in the midterms.

• “I don’t think this is one where you can vote against it and be confident that two years from now nobody will remember,” Pasco said.

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