If you were paying attention to how McConnell rolled out the initial draft of what would become the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, you'll recognize what's about to happen. McConnell will talk about the proposal on the floor, followed by each of his committee chairs who led the drafting of specific pieces of the proposal.
Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of leadership, told reporters Wednesday night the proposal wouldn't come out as a single bill, but instead as individual packages from the committees of jurisdiction. This is different than the CARES Act.
But there are a few reasons for the route McConnell is taking -- first, these chairs and committee staff have, indeed, been drafting and working through these proposals for several weeks so this is their work (with tweaks and final decisions made at points by leadership and the White House).
Second, and probably most importantly, this signals buy-in from the most senior and powerful members of McConnell's conference, with the goal being the members of the committees follow their chairmen in lining up behind the bill.
The dynamics are very different from what they were the first time around, but it was an effective strategy in unifying the whole conference in March. There's some effort to replicate that here as lawmakers prepare to head into the brawl of negotiations that will be the weeks ahead.
Reality check: This is not March. The splits in the GOP conference over a new package are real -- and have been present for weeks. McConnell will get a strong majority behind his proposal and, most importantly, will be aligned with his frontline senators up for reelection. But there are more than a handful of Republicans who will oppose the bill right out of the gate, including some who are opposed to any new spending at all in the wake of the initial $2.2 emergency economic relief package. McConnell knows that and has planned for it. The real challenge will be to ensure the opposition doesn't spread, undercutting the talks with Democrats.
Of note: Democratic senators and senior aides have quietly been watching the last several days with a mix of glee, astonishment and concern. Glee because they all appreciate divides in the Republican conference and see it as an opportunity to cut a more beneficial deal with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, they say. Astonishment because it has been two months since Democrats passed their own proposal and Republicans are just getting around to theirs. Concern because if the GOP chasm becomes too wide, thee is concern a bill might not come together at all.
"The Republican Party is so disorganized, chaotic and unprepared that they can barely cobble together a partisan bill in their own conference," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday.
To be clear, that is very unlikely at this point -- the incentives for reaching an agreement are simply too high, aides and senators in both parties say. But it's out there.
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