Thread by @JakeSherman

Playbook this AM: IN CASE IT WASN’T PLAINLY OBVIOUS, Senate and House negotiators hope to announce a Covid relief deal today. government shuts down tomorrow night and getting this $2 trillion package through Congress in one day will be a heavy lift, but will be necessary.

There seems to be a recognition that the government needs to be funded by Monday morning, and that means a vote on this big package in the House and Senate on Sunday -- or another stopgap.

.@senatemajldr spoke when the Senate convened at 11 a.m. "There's a kind of gravitational pull here in Congress, where unless we are careful any major negotiation can easily slide into an unending catalog of disagreements. Let's guard against that."

@senatemajldr "WE NEED TO CONCLUDE our talks, draft legislation and land this plane," MCCONNELL said.

HOUSE DEMOCRATS have a noon Zoom call in part to “update on our ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” (h/t @heatherscope )

@senatemajldr @heatherscope WARNING SIGNS FOR BIDEN: In considering this package, we’ve seen a new posture from Republicans that’s worth considering for a moment. Sen. PAT TOOMEY (R-Pa.) slowed the negotiations to a crawl to end an emergency Fed lending program

@senatemajldr @heatherscope Sen. RON JOHNSON (R-Wis.) twice voiced skepticism of new direct checks programs.

-- PUT TOGETHER, this shows that the appetite for some of the extraordinary tools to combat the economic devastation has waned considerably since the beginning of the crisis.

-- BUT, BUT, BUT … Sen. JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.), not a traditional Republican by any measure, is articulating a digestible and perhaps articulate version of Trumpism.

He’s an economic populist (More checks! Bigger checks!), a social conservative and has beef with Big Tech and elites. As many have pointed out, he’s a Stanford and Yale Law grad, but alas.