Senate Republicans finally release their coronavirus plan: Let Pelosi handle it

After voting last month to ensure that  Donald Trump would stay in office, Senate Republicans are now stepping up once again to the address the nation's needs amid the coronavirus public health crisis. GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday that they would do exactly nothing, instead clearing the way for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to negotiate directly with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on a response to help Americans weather the coronavirus.

Mnuchin, McConnell said, would have "ball control," and Senate Republicans would simply defer to the deal cut by Pelosi and the White House. He added that he was certain they could work something out. Wow—almost like a total abdication of responsibility. Or, in fact, an actual total abdication of responsibility. It's basically the exact same play Senate Republicans ran during the Donald Trump-created government shutdown—let Pelosi fix it, which in that case she did.

Trump is clearly growing more desperate by the hour. At lunch on Tuesday, he told congressional Republicans he wanted to waive payroll taxes through the November elections, according to Bloomberg News.

Democrats are skeptical such a tax waiver will really help to address the needs of most Americans during the outbreak. Instead, they are focused on fixes such as enhancing paid sick leave and unemployment insurance, offering free coronavirus testing and affordable treatment, protecting frontline workers, and enacting anti-price-gouging protections. Ya know, measures that will actually help Americans get through the coronavirus.