Mitch McConnell is the worst

But wait...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday backed off his demand for businesses to get coronavirus-related liability protections as part of a year-end rescue package.

The Kentucky Republican urged Congress to pass an aid bill that contains neither legal immunity nor state and local government support, two roadblocks to lawmakers striking a relief deal.

“What I recommend is we set aside liability and set aside state and local, and pass those things that we can agree on knowing full well we’ll be back at this after the 1st of the year” during the transition to President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, McConnell told reporters on Tuesday.

  CNBC

Mitch is desperate to pass something now, because he's not certain of Georgia's runoff outcome, and he knows that after Joe Biden takes office, if Dems have control of both the House and the Senate, there will be a much larger relief bill to vote on, and he won't be able to block it. If they pass something smaller now, even with control of both houses, Democrats will be less likely to press for more because the extreme pressure will be lessened.

Democratic leaders, who oppose a liability shield, quickly rejected the tradeoff.

[...]

Leaders in Washington hope to pass a rescue package before the end of the year after months of inaction. Failure to send more help before then could cut off unemployment benefits to about 12 million people and leave millions facing the threat of eviction.