McConnell says COVID spending package could shrink to $10B

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says a bipartisan package to provide fresh spending to combat COVID-19 may drop to $10 billion. McConnell made his remark during an interview Thursday with Punchbowl News. He spoke as the two parties remained deadlocked over how to pay for the measure. Negotiators have been trying for weeks to revive a $15.6 billion version they’d agreed to earlier this month. But that fell apart after House Democrats rejected cuts in pandemic aid to states to help pay for it, and the parties remain divided over how to find savings both sides can accept. McConnell says the measure remains a work in progress.