Senate Republicans are apparently struggling to find 51 GOP votes for a COVID-19 relief bill

Mitch McConnell
(Image credit: 2020 Republican National Committee via Getty Images)

The Senate is getting back to work Tuesday after its August recess, and along with averting a government shutdown at the end of September, their agenda includes trying to pass a COVID-19 economic relief package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have agreed on a tentative plan to avoid a shutdown, but coronavirus relief talks are at an impasse. The House passed a $3.4 trillion package in May and the White House doesn't want the price tag to top $1 trillion, maybe $1.5 trillion.

"Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other top Senate Republicans have been scrambling to round up votes for a narrow economic stimulus package they could put on the floor and hammer Democrats for opposing," Politico reports, but their "gambit may fall short," since "McConnell doesn't even have 51 votes for the Republican proposal, according to GOP senators and aides, let alone the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.