McConnell shoots down additional coronavirus relief -- but promises to confirm more Trump judges

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) refused to commit to another coronavirus relief package, but he promised to confirm more judicial nominations for President Donald Trump.

The Kentucky Republican appeared on conservative Hugh Hewitt's radio program, where he offered a competing vision for plans offered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," reported Politico.

"I'm not going to allow this to be an opportunity for the Democrats to achieve unrelated policy items they wouldn't otherwise be able to pass,” McConnell told Hewitt.

But the House speaker seemed to anticipate those remarks, telling MSNBC that Democrats want to focus on infrastructure projects, including broadband for those working from home during the outbreak, and sick leave and new stimulus spending programs.

“Imagine being concerned about being sick and just not even having any resources to address your family's needs," Pelosi said. "We have important work to do. Again, three bills, strongly bipartisan, and what we do next will be bipartisan as well."

Trump, who called Pelosi a "sick puppy" in his Monday morning interview on "Fox & Friends," watched Pelosi's appearance and tweeted that "she wasn’t bad" on MSNBC, followed up a few minutes later by touting a "VERY BIG & BOLD" $2 trillion infrastructure bill.

Democratic lawmakers have proposed additional legislation will be needed to alleviate the economic suffering caused by the coronavirus and resulting statewide lockdowns, but McConnell signaled that his focus will be elsewhere for now.

“This bill was only signed into law last Friday, so it’s only been law for about four days and the speaker is already talking about another bill,” McConnell told Hewitt. “She hasn’t suggested the House would even come back into session until the 20th of April, and I've said the same thing, so let’s see how things are going and respond accordingly.”

McConnell then said that he would resume confirmations for Trump's judicial nominees when recess ended.

"My motto for the rest of the year is to leave no vacancy behind.”