WaPo reporter says GOP has less incentive to go big on COVID-19 relief

Washington Post economic reporter Jeff Stein said Thursday that Senate Republicans have less incentive to pass a larger coronavirus stimulus package after President Trump’s electoral defeat.

“Republicans feel like they have more leverage than they did before the election,” Stein said in a Hill.TV interview, referring to differences between Trump and Senate Republicans over the size of a relief bill.

“President Trump was pulling the Republican Party dramatically toward being willing to spend more money for millions of Americans, and now that Joe Biden has won, Republicans are now saying they don’t want to spend money and Democrats are eager to get through any kind of deal that could help the president-elect,” he added.

Stein agreed with host Saagar Enjeti that the relief package Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) unveiled this week was “more anemic” than earlier Republican proposals.

“There are a lot of Republicans, at the same time, who want something done and I think are sincere about it,” Stein said, naming GOP Sens. Joni Ernst (Iowa), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Mitt Romney (Utah).

Separately, Stein noted, the federal government will shut down if a deal to fund it is not reached by Dec. 11, leading to the possibility of including stimulus measures in a short-term funding bill.

However, he added that he was “skeptical” about that possibility because “once you combine those two debates, what you’re effectively going to be telling members is, this is the stimulus plan, and so that would give Democrats a lot of incentive” to decide it was insufficient and vote against it.