Sen. John Kennedy unloaded Tuesday on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying her refusal to budge on coronavirus spending demands is holding up money that all sides agree on.
“If that’s her position she needs to go to bed. She’s drunk,” the Louisiana Republican senator told reporters. “There’s no way that proposal was going to pass the United States Senate before, and it’s certainly not going to pass now.”
Mrs. Pelosi had been eyeing a $3 trillion bill, while Senate Republicans were looking at something in the $1 trillion range.
The White House had been trying to negotiate with Mrs. Pelosi on a bill in the middle, but they were unable to reach a deal before the election — and it wasn’t clear Senate Republicans would go for it anyway.
Mrs. Pelosi is staring at the rising number of coronavirus infections, and calling for a massive cash infusion. She says any bill “must crush the virus.”
Republicans are looking at a quickly improving economy and figuring the size of a new package doesn’t need to be so large.
They also point to add-ons Democrats demanded, such as election rules changes, as extraneous to combating the pandemic.
“I am not going to vote for a bill that includes a lot of Pelosi spending or policy porn,” Mr. Kennedy said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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