Mitch McConnell just adjourned the Senate until November 9, ending the prospect of additional coronavirus relief until after the election

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Mitch McConnell just adjourned the Senate until November 9, ending the prospect of additional coronavirus relief until after the election
US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks at a press conference at the US Capitol on September 22, 2020 in Washington, DC, as McConnell said in a statement that the Senate would take up President Donald Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. - There is "overwhelming precedent behind the fact that this Senate will vote on this nomination this year," said Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, dismissing comparisons to when GOP members refused in 2016 to vote on a replacement nominated by President Barack Obama for the late Justice Antonin Scalia.Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has adjourned the Senate until November 9.
  • The move ends the prospect of an additional coronavirus stimulus deal being reached before Election Day.
  • Democrats and Republicans have been at odds over the terms of a deal, with Senate Democrats last week blocking a "skinny" $500 million bill re-proposed by Republicans.
  • The two parties also battled over the process leading up to Judge Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation to the Supreme Court, which was the Senate's last major order of business on Monday before adjourning.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday motioned for the Senate to adjourn until November 9.

The move shuts down the Senate from doing any legislative business, including reaching a deal on additional coronavirus aid, until after voters have cast their ballots, and it comes on the heels of Monday's 52-48 vote to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court.

David Popp, a representative for McConnell, told Business Insider there was "nothing to add" to what he described as McConnell's "extensive remarks on the continued Democrat filibuster on COVID relief in the Senate."

Alex Nguyen, a representative for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, referred Business Insider to a Saturday statement accusing Republicans of sidelining coronavirus talks while pushing forward with Barrett's confirmation process ahead of the election.

Read more: Jared Kushner floating launch of a new Trump-branded media outlet, GOP sources say. It's another sign of a looming 2020 defeat.

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"Today, we're going to give the Republican majority in the Senate the opportunity to consider critical legislation that has so far languished in Leader McConnell's legislative graveyard," Schumer said in the statement, adding: "We should be doing that, not rushing through this nomination while people are voting, and want their choice listened to, not the Republican Senate choice."

Republicans and Democrats have increasingly sparred as the election approaches, particularly over additional federal coronavirus relief and Barrett's nomination.

On Friday, Democrats used a variety of procedural tactics in a last-ditch effort to stall Barrett's confirmation, and the two parties have extensively rehashed talking points and arguments that have built up from decades of Supreme Court battles.

"You will never, never get your credibility back," Schumer told Republicans in a speech on the Senate floor on Monday, warning the GOP that it had no right to tell Democrats how to run Congress next time Democrats were in power.

On coronavirus aid, the two parties have been unable to find enough common ground to reach a deal, with Republicans nixing proposals they describe as too expensive. McConnell effectively torpedoed a stimulus bill of $1.8 trillion to $2.2 trillion earlier this month that Democrats had been negotiating with the White House.

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Republicans had instead insisted that a "skinny" bill of $500 billion would be enough, but their proposal omitted aid to states as well as $1,200 direct payments to taxpayers, both key Democratic priorities, and the Democrats ultimately tanked the measure last week.

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