Joe Biden COVID-19 response: White House memo reveals administration's approach to get GOP lawmakers to agree to relief proposal

With many Americans financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Biden is determined to push his trillion-dollar COVID-19 relief aid proposal. Even as Democrats hold the majority in both the House and Senate, a White House memo reveals the administration’s approach to get GOP support for the proposal.

A recent White House memo gives a peek into how the administration plans to get GOP support for Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus relief, as an effort to gain bipartisan support even if the Democratic lawmakers hold a majority. White House adviser Mike Donilon, who wrote the memo, pointed out the increasing GOP tactic of having an obstructive, partisan stance. Donilon added that this approach would do more harm than good to the GOP.

“There seems to be a growing conventional wisdom that it is either politically-smart - or at worst, cost-free - for the GOP to adopt an obstructionist, partisan, base-politics posture,” wrote Donilon. “However, there is lots of evidence that the opposite is true: that it isn’t politically-smart for the GOP to be going down this road. And rather than being cost-free, this approach has been quite damaging to them.”

Donilon further explained how to get the argument across to Republicans, stating that they would be going against their constituents, who have expressed overwhelming support for the proposal. The senior adviser stressed that it is not politically-smart for Republican lawmakers to oppose the package. “By opposing the American Rescue Plan, the GOP is putting itself at odds with a rescue package supported overwhelmingly by the American people. Opposition to the ARP isn’t politically-smart or cost-free - it’s politically isolating.”

In other news, David Reeves, from Gastonia, North Carolina, has been indicted with more federal charges following his previous charge of threatening to kill Biden. Aside from threatening the president, Reeves was charged with making interstate communication with the intent to injure and influencing a federal official by making a threat. The Secret Service said that Reeves made threats against Biden and other government officials, which led to his arrest earlier this month. As per an affidavit, Reeves called a Secret Service agent several times, saying he was going to kill the president.

Court filings also revealed that Reeves contacted the Capitol Police to make threats over the switchboard of the department.