GOP staffer says not enough votes for “pile of crap” stimulus

Now that we are starting to see real progress getting made between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the focus is going to be on the Republicans for the next couple of weeks.

So far, we have heard some support from some key Republicans such as Lindsey Graham regarding the next round of relief.

They have not been the most outspoken or explicit about their support but they have voiced that they would be willing to go along with a large stimulus package so long as it is reasonable in terms of what it offers.

But a report just came out that some Senate Republicans are getting frustrated with how Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is giving in to Pelosi’s demands.

“There are not 13 votes for this pile of crap Mnuchin is capitulating on,” one Senate GOP staffer told the Washington Post.

Assuming all Democrats vote in favor of the stimulus package coming, there will need to be 13 Republican votes in favor of the “crap” so that it can pass.

And according to the quote above, some doubt that 13 votes will come into fruition.

Another Senate GOP aide reportedly stated: “Fair to say the feeling is he’s giving away the store… The idea that our conference is going to go along with whatever bad deal he cuts with Pelosi is completely unrealistic.”

These comments follow Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s warning to the White House about reaching a large deal before the election.

The worry is that it could interfere with the plans to confirm Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett next week.

The other worry is that it could impact the re-election odds of certain Republican senators that are in tight races for their seats.

And it’s pretty easy to see why.

If a Republican candidate is in a neck and neck race against a Democrat and the Democrat is in favor of more stimulus aid but the Republican is not, it could persuade voters to vote blue instead of red.

If this were to happen a handful of times, Republicans could actually lose control of the Senate just on that basis alone.

Republicans who are facing those type of close races may go ahead and support the stimulus bill while Republicans who are not up for re-election might sit back and oppose it.

This could cause a divide in the Republican Party which could also interfere with the plans to confirm the new Supreme Court justice.

It’s a very dynamic situation.

There are about 22 Republican senators that will be facing re-election so it would only take about half of them to feel the pressure in order for the Senate to have the number of votes that they need to pass the bill.

It’s going to be extremely interesting to see how the Republicans respond to such a bill and how badly this divides the party going forward.

H/T

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