White House on McConnell’s opposition: ‘100% of our focus is on delivering relief’

The White House delivered a soft rebuke to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday after the Kentucky Republican said he is completely focused on “stopping” the Biden administration.

“I guess the contrast for people to consider is 100% of our focus is on delivering relief to the American people and getting the pandemic under control and putting people back to work,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Mr. McConnell’s comment on opposing the administration came in response to a question about embattled Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Key House Republicans want to remove her from party leadership because of her outspoken criticism of former President Donald Trump’s post-election actions.

Speaking at a Kentucky event, Mr. McConnell wouldn’t say if he planned to help Ms. Cheney.

“100 percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration,” he said.

Ms. Psaki said the Oval Office is “open” to Republicans and that Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia Republican, is set to bring “a group of her choosing” to discuss infrastructure at the White House next week.

Mr. Biden campaigned on a pledge of unity and says he’d like to get a bipartisan result on infrastructure and help for families.

But Republicans say their ideas have been nudged aside in favor of tax-and-spend plans that liberals prefer. They point to Democrats’ early use of a filibuster-avoiding mechanism known as “budget reconciliation” to muscle through a $1.9 trillion virus-relief package without GOP votes.

“The president may have won the nomination, but Bernie Sanders won the argument about what the new administration should be like,” Mr. McConnell said, referring to the senator from Vermont.