GOP dusts off anti-Pelosi playbook as stimulus negotiations drag on

After the Senate suffered a crushing setback on efforts to pass a $1.6 trillion coronavirus rescue bill Sunday, Republicans reached for a familiar foe to blame: Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“She’s the speaker of the House, not the speaker of the Senate. We don’t have one,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said angrily after a key procedural vote failed due to Democratic opposition. “We were doing just fine until that intervention.”

As Senate leaders struggled to reach a deal Monday morning, Republicans continued to scapegoat Pelosi, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blasting the speaker during an early appearance on Fox News and accusing Pelosi of trying to blackmail Republicans with a wish-list of demands. Senior GOP aides were also shopping around Pelosi attack lines under the cloak of anonymity Monday morning.

For most congressional Republicans, the blame-Pelosi playbook is a familiar comfort — an easy go-to as party leaders wrestle for the upper hand in negotiations. For over a decade, the GOP has poured millions of dollars into campaign ads decrying the California Democrat and her “San Francisco values” as all that’s wrong in America. And the coronavirus crisis has proved no exception.




https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/23/republicans-anti-nancy-pelosi-playbook-coronavirus-negotiations-144037