At some point?
Five days ago he announced that he wouldn’t hold a vote on a deal between the White House and Democrats. The price tag, in the ballpark of $1.8 trillion, was too high for his caucus. It was a nonstarter. Today he’s telling reporters that, sure, they’ll look at it. How come? What changed? I have theories. McConnell on Senate considering a possible COVID-19 relief deal: “If a Presidentially-supported bill clears the House, at some point we’ll bring to the floor, yes.” Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) October 20,2020 McConnell confirmed he would put on the Senate floor any deal reached between Pelosi and administration on the stimulus. But he would NOT say when I asked if he was comfortable with a price tag around $1.8T or $2T-plus as Trump is pushing. He said Senate would “consider” a deal — Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 20,2020 Theory one: Today is Pelosi’s deadline for a deal, with she and Steve Mnuchin holding final talks to see if they can get something done. Maybe McConnell’s been given a heads-up by the White House that the two sides are still too far apart and there’s likely to be no deal, in which case he’s now free to position his caucus as perfectly open-minded about a big stimulus for PR purposes. “Sure, sure, of course we’re willing to consider a $2 trillion package. Just as soon as Pelosi agrees to it.” It’d be a costless bit of spin — if in fact talks are about to collapse and Pelosi’s serious about her deadline. Theory two: Maybe Trump threatened McConnell and his caucus behind the scenes. The president has less sway over Senate Republicans today than he’s had in the past thanks to his weak polling against Biden, but he’s not without leverage. He showed over the weekend that he’s willing to make an example of critics like Ben Sasse, which must have sent a shiver through Sasse’s colleagues knowing that Trump will retain influence over the GOP base next year regardless of what happens next month. Getting a stimulus deal has become an urgent and understandable — and *very* belated — pre-election priority for Trump. Conceivably he warned Cocaine Mitch that if he doesn’t back him up on a bill, he’ll start calling out Senate Republicans by name for not working harder to get it passed. Which could be ruinous to incumbents like Joni Ernst and Susan Collins in tight races. Theory three: McConnell’s seen the polling. Part of the shift away from Mr. Trump on the economy may stem from voters’ urgent hunger for new relief spending from the federal government — which Mr.
