GOP to wait before debating more stimulus — and risk getting 'blamed by voters in November’: report

On Monday, Politico reported that Senate Republicans feel no immediate need to take up legislation on a new round of coronavirus stimulus — and may give it until July to decide whether to even take up the issue at all.

"Buoyed by a surprisingly strong jobs report last week and the knowledge that some of Congress’ $2 trillion March spending package still hasn’t been spent, the Senate GOP remains noncommittal on the timing and substance of the next piece of legislation," reported Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine. "Bipartisan talks still haven’t begun in earnest, according to senators and aides, and the White House and senior Republican senators say they won’t start until July."

Reports indicate that the jobs report may have been artificially inflated by a categorization error that could be obscuring an unemployment rate over 16 percent. However, even factoring in the error, unemployment has fallen slightly from a high of 19.7 percent.

"Republicans say it’s only responsible to wait and see how nearly $3 trillion in total coronavirus spending seeps into the economy," said the report. "But it’s also a gamble: if the economic recovery isn’t as strong as they predict, they risk being blamed by voters in November that they and President Donald Trump didn’t do enough amid a global pandemic and historic recession."

“I think conditions are definitely going to improve. We’ve seen the virus take down the best economy in the world, but it looks like it’s pretty resilient and starting to come back,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). He added that the jobs report “surprised everybody," and said, "I’m beginning not to trust the ‘experts,’ the people who make all these predictions.”

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