White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday strongly condemned the idea that White House staff were preventing President Joe Biden from making concessions to Republicans on his coronavirus package.
“There is no one who’s going to tell him what to do or hold him back,” she said.
Senate Republicans expressed concerns about successfully reaching an agreement with the Biden White House, after meeting with the president Monday claiming his staff would prevent him from compromising.
“The new president talks a lot about unity, but his White House staff and congressional leadership are working with a different playbook,” McConnell said Wednesday during his opening remarks in the Senate.
But Psaki said any questions about whether there was any daylight between the president and his staff on the package price tag were “ludicrous.”
During the 2020 presidential campaign, former President Donald Trump repeatedly questioned whether Biden had the ability to lead the country or would be beholden to the agenda of the radical left.
Senate Democrats moved Tuesday on the budget reconciliation process to move a massive funding package forward without a bipartisan deal with Republicans.
Psaki said Biden was still committed to the size of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package after meeting Republicans on their smaller $619 billion proposal.
“That is certainly his commitment, and that’s exactly what he’s working to deliver on,” she said.
During the briefing, Psaki criticized the Republican plan for failing to provide bailouts for state and local budget shortfalls.
“Their plan offers no money to state and local governments to keep people on the front lines of this fight employed,” she said.