With the Senate majority on the line in the fall, GOP senators have a wide range of complaints. Some feel that they have been locked out of top-level negotiations, that the talks are proceeding too slowly, that Democrats are acting in bad faith and that if a final deal is reached, it may not be one that they are able to support.
A number of the Senate's most vulnerable Republicans facing competitive reelection fights are eager for a deal as voters back home demand action from Washington. At the same time, a sizable number of Republicans are reluctant to get behind any deal at all in light of the trillions of dollars that have already been approved by Congress for coronavirus relief, a dynamic that has put key blocs of the party at odds at a critical time.
As of Wednesday evening, there wasn't much optimism about a deal.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows gave a dim outlook about the "laborious" discussions, saying, "There are no top line numbers that have been agreed to. We continue to be trillions of dollars apart in terms of what Democrats and Republicans hopefully will ultimately compromise on." Speaking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room" Wednesday night, Meadows said President Donald Trump would entertain executive action on "eviction protections" and "enhanced unemployment payments" if Congress cannot reach a deal by Friday.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, leaving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office Wednesday night, said the White House needs to see "some real compromise on some of the big issues" in order to get a deal by Friday.
But time may be running out.
"Is Friday a drop-dead date? No. My optimism continues to diminish the closer we get to Friday and certainly falls off a cliff exponentially after Friday," Meadows told reporters.
"This is not a fine wine, it doesn't improve with time," he added.
Many GOP members feel left in the dark as negotiations have been centered around daily talks in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and the lead negotiators for the Trump administration, Mnuchin and Meadows. During Wednesday's closed-door Senate GOP lunch, Mnuchin and Meadows briefed members on their progress, but few said that it seemed like negotiations had moved very far. And, there is growing concern from many conservatives that the negotiations are moving far away from a place that Republicans may be comfortable with.
"There is a little progress, but it is not very encouraging," Sen. David Perdue, a Republican from Georgia up for reelection, said Wednesday. "As a practical guy working on this, I am worried. My caution is that we don't do something that is very irresponsible."
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said this week, "It worries me that we have no idea what the final product will be here," adding, "I think it's concerning that we don't have any idea really what's going on. I think a lot of senators have that sentiment."
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