Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy

by Adam Tooze

after the electoral college votes on December 14 confirmed Biden’s victory, McConnell made a shift that would turn out to be decisive for the subsequent course of events. He recognized Biden’s victory and threw his weight onto the side of those preparing for the transition. For McConnell, of course, that meant not preparing for cooperation, but preparing to obstruct the Biden administration. Holding the Republican seats in Georgia would secure his hold on the Senate and give the GOP a veto over any legislative move by the Biden administration. To have any chance in Georgia, the GOP needed not to look like the chief obstacle to a stimulus. So McConnell dropped his objections to the $900 billion bill.