As Pelosi Works To Craft Emergency Deal, McConnell Recesses Senate Till Monday

By Kerry Eleveld — March 13, 2020

This really says it all: Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reportedly been working all day to cut an emergency deal with the White House to address the coronavirus. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, after saying earlier Thursday that he had delayed a scheduled Senate recess, went ahead and left town anyway.

That means anything the House passes either Thursday night or Friday will sit for several days until McConnell cares enough to come back from his vacation to pass it. Or not. Maybe Senate Republicans will simply kill the deal that they made no effort to negotiate. Who knows? Senate Republicans clearly aren’t feeling a lot of urgency.

As @SpeakerPelosi & Steve Mnuchin negotiate, @senatemajldr has left the building to head home for the weekend. Senate to address any House coronavirus legislation next week

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) March 12, 2020

Senate is leaving town till Monday, meaning whatever the House passes tonight or tomorrow on the coronavirus outbreak will have to wait till then https://t.co/DKYfwMpHCo

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) March 12, 2020

From earlier Thursday, when it looked like maybe Senate Republicans might attempt to be useful (things have changed since then).

Senate scraps its recess amid growing pressure to pass an economic relief package - and amid a push by House Dems to pass their own bill today. GOP senators up for re-election did not want to go home without passing a bill https://t.co/bsu5McmSsb

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 12, 2020

Posted with permission from Daily Kos.

Ed. Note: Watch Chris Hayes have a small freakout in the video above over McConnell's decision to take a 3-day weekend in the middle of a crisis, and Senator Jeff Merkley pronounce it "insane" in response. It is, of course, insane.

And it may all be for naught:

As Coronavirus Pandemic Sweeps the Globe, Trump Authorizes New Bombing Campaign in the Middle East

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Become a subscriber:

Make a donation:

If you don't mind the ads and would rather donate, please select one of the options below:

Kindest

Donate via PayPal

Via Snail Mail
payable to: Crooksandliars
528 Palisades Drive
Ste 548
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

Explore more

Mitch McConnell Blames Impeachment For Slow Trump Response To COVID-19

Republicans Engineered Federal Reserve Cover-Up For $450 Billion Corporate Bailout Fund

Mitch McConnell Isn't Sure Trump's 'Emergency' Is Legal

McConnell: Liability Protection Must Be In Next Coronavirus Bill

McConnell's Toxic, Partisan Game Has Wasted 10 Days Of Critical Coronavirus Response Time

GOP Plan To Block Iran Deal Fails In Senate 58-42

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.