Republicans and Democrats tear new divides as Senate debates Covid-19 deal and

It is only right that Democrats should face principled Republican arguments on whether they are properly targeting the spending blitz or rewarding pet causes and on whether huge aid to states and cities is needed. And 10 Republicans did seek to make that case in their failed effort to get Biden to sign on to a $600 billion stimulus that the President judged underestimated the magnitude of the health and economic crisis.

But GOP leaders also have a problem. Biden’s measure is surprisingly popular, so they need to slow it down and discredit its contents to extract some political gains and deprive the new President of a clean win.

So Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, taking a timeout from his conspiracy-fueled effort to absolve Trump supporters in the Capitol insurrection, is planning days of stunts that threaten to turn debate over the package — with unemployment benefits for millions of Americans set to run out within days — into a made-for-conservative-cable-TV farce.

“We’re talking about $1.9 trillion … a stack of one billion dollars that would extend halfway past the distance to the moon. And we want to do this in a matter of hours? I don’t think that’s right,” Johnson said Wednesday.

The senator plans to force a full reading of the bill — that will take 10 hours — and stretch out debate with an array of procedural traps.

Each drama reveals behavior forced on a party that has collectively decided that its most reliable path to power relies on its own radical, activist base and providing soundbites to conservative media rather than adopting policies that might appeal to a broader group of more mainstream Americans.

The big lie that the election was stolen will loom over the Senate Covid-19 debate. Senators will meet behind high iron fences and increased security because of new fears of violence by extremists incited by Trump’s lies and the absurd QAnon conspiracy theory that he will be sworn in as president on March 4.

Biden pleads for patience

In the other corner from the Republican disrupters, Biden, who won the presidency largely on a vow to replace Trump’s denial and neglect of the pandemic with organized, compassionate leadership, is pleading with senators to act fast.

He argues that the behemoth of a bill is packed with funding to get schools open, injections into arms and to tide over laid-off workers and small businesses until a sped-up inoculation drive can revive the economy.

“I’m not sure we’ve ever seen something that is needed as badly as the American Rescue Plan that was as broadly popular,” Biden said on Wednesday after adjusting some aspects of the bill to appease moderate Democrats, to the dismay of progressives.

The President is also expressing disbelief that Republican governors are using his success in broadening vaccine supplies as an excuse to open up with the virus still rampant.

If the vaccines are as effective as everyone hopes — and Biden says there will be enough for every American adult in just three months — the country could be entering the political endgame of the pandemic.

There is a definite sense that each side is positioning for the post-Covid-19 reality. If things go back to normal this year, Biden will credit the relief package, his reliance on science and the use of government power to mount a vaccination drive as Democrats head into midterm elections next year.

Republicans, especially those facing primary races, have an incentive to brand the Covid-19 relief bill as a giveaway by big-spending socialists who want to curtail basic American freedoms with mask wearing and keeping restaurants closed.

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