'I'm wishing them well': McConnell jeers coronavirus negotiation between Pelosi and Mnuchin from the sidelines

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have once again renewed negotiations for a final coronavirus relief package just weeks before the 2020 US elections, but Republicans in Congress aren't buying the hype on the long-elusive deal. The Senate majority leader has sidelined himself for months from discussions between House Democrats and the White House on a bill to re-up a federal unemployment programme, cut another round of stimulus checks for most American taxpayers and families, and shovel even more money over to states, local governments, and health care centres that will be on the frontlines taking in Covid-19 patients and deploying a vaccine to the masses. That's partly because Senate Republicans have been all over the map on what kind of bill – and what price tag – they could support, with conservative firebrands Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky saying they'd try to sink any bill that adds trillions of dollars to the ever-ballooning federal debt.