COVID-19 relief package takes step forward

WASHINGTON (AP) – Negotiations on a huge COVID-19 relief bill have taken a modest step forward, though time is running out and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, President Donald Trump’s most powerful Senate ally, is pressing the White House not to move ahead.

McConnell told fellow Republicans he has warned the White House not to divide Republicans by sealing a lopsided $2 trillion relief deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before the election – even as he publicly said he’d slate any such agreement for a vote.

Pelosi’s office said talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin yesterday were productive, but other veteran lawmakers said there is still too much work to do and not enough time to do it to enact a relief bill by Election Day.

McConnell made his remarks during a private lunch with fellow Republicans, three people familiar with his comments said, requesting anonymity because the session was private.

The Kentucky Republican appears worried that an agreement between Pelosi and Mnuchin would drive a wedge between Republicans, forcing them to choose whether to support a Pelosi-blessed deal with Trump that would violate conservative positions they’ve stuck with for months. Many Republicans say they can’t vote for another huge Pelosi-brokered agreement.