Tensions emerge within GOP over coronavirus spending and how to rescue the economy

President Trump is promoting costly ideas such as infrastructure investment and a payroll tax cut as his top economic official plays down the impact of additional virus spending on the national debt. But at the same time, senior Senate Republicans are increasingly warning about the effect on the nation’s liabilities, even as some of their own members lobby for expensive proposals to rescue an economy still in a free fall…

“Concerns about federal deficits and debts are being swamped by the scale of the crisis right now, but when our economy rebounds, they will return as a serious issue for voters,” said Michael Steel, who served as a top aide to then- House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and 2016 GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush. “As we saw after 2008 and 2009, paroxysms of federal spending tend to spawn ferocious blowback.”

In a conference-wide phone call Thursday morning, GOP senators broadly agreed to hold off on any new virus spending until lawmakers return to Washington on May 4, according to people on the call and those briefed on the conversation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussion. It’s unclear whether Congress will resume on that date — D.C. officials have said the number of coronavirus cases are projected to peak sometime in May, and the city is under a stay-at-home order through May 15.