Fighting Biden virus aid, GOP rekindles Obama-era strategy

WASHINGTON — Republicans have one goal for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package: to erode public support for the rescue plan by portraying it as too big, too bloated and too much wasteful public spending for a pandemic that’s almost over.

Senate Republicans prepared Friday to vote lockstep against the relief bill, taking the calculated political risk that Americans will sour on the big-dollar spending for vaccination distribution, unemployment benefits, money for the states and other outlays as unnecessary, once they learn all the details. Reviving a page from their 2009 takedown of then-President Barack Obama’s costly recovery from the financial crisis, they expect their opposition will pay political rewards, much like the earlier effort contributed to the House Republicans’ rise to power.

It’s a tested strategy but comes at an uncertain, volatile time for the nation. Americans are experiencing flickers of optimism at the one-year anniversary of the deadly outbreak as more people are vaccinated. But new strains of the virus and a still shaky economy could unleash another devastating cycle of infections, lockdowns and deaths. More than 500,000 Americans have died.

So far, public support for Biden’s approach to the pandemic is high. Overall, 70 percent of Americans back the Democratic president’s handling of the virus response, including 44 percent of Republicans, according to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Biden and the Democrats backing him warn that now is not the time to let up on aid — better to risk doing too much, than too little. They say the costs of paring back the rescue risk stalling out the economic recovery, as many believe happened in 2009.

“When the house is in flames, you don’t argue about how much of the fire to put out,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., during Friday’s session.

“You do whatever it takes until the crisis is over,” she said. “And you do it as fast as you can.”

The debate in Congress reflects a fundamental divide in the country over how to contain and crush the pandemic and get the nation back to normal. Nearly 10 million jobs have been lost, some 11 million households face evictions. While Democratic leaders generally side with health professionals supporting social distancing restrictions and easing into school and workplace reopenings, congressional Republicans have been more eager to conduct business as close to usual as possible.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who forced an all-night reading of the 628-page bill Thursday, delaying the start of debate, used charts and props to help Americans understand the size of the $1.9 trillion package.

“The human mind can’t really contemplate what a trillion is,” he said, before launching into examples. He suggested a stack of $1 bills would extend the distance half way to the moon.

GOP Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana said by the time they’re done they hope to turn public opinion around.

“We’re going to expose every ugly detail of it,” he said.

The White House is well aware of the challenges ahead. Many of Biden’s staff members are veterans of the 2009 battles.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday they didn’t do enough at the time to explain to the American people the benefits in ways “that people would be talking about at their dinner tables.”