Look before leaping

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a proponent of the “pause,” says Republicans are “taking a look at what we’ve already done. And we’ve added about $3 trillion to the national debt, and assessing the effectiveness of that before deciding to go forward.”

Yet McConnell, R-Ky., is cracking open the door to more legislation, provided that it is “narrowly targeted.”

“I’m in discussion, we all are, with the administration. If we reach a decision along with the administration to move to another phase, that’ll be the time to interact with the Democrats,” he said.

On Thursday, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said it’s inevitable that Republicans will negotiate. He would like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, with whom he has a good relationship, to remain in a leading role.

“In the last two bills, they sat on the sidelines at the beginning, said our way or no way, and then they had to come to the table,” Schumer said on CNBC. “Steve Mnuchin was a very positive and powerful force, bringing them in that direction because he knew we had to do stuff for the economy — and the bill for all the partisanship passed 96-0.”

Still, recent polls show GOP voters are far more likely to be satisfied with the government’s virus response than are Democrats. They are less fearful of a second wave of cases as states loosen stay-at-home orders, and they are not clamoring for more aid.

“We’re starting to hear grumbling against spending that I haven’t heard for a while,” said Adam Brandon, president of FreedomWorks, a conservative group.

Conservative senators