WASHINGTON
(AP) — Tensions flared Monday as Washington strained to respond to the
worsening coronavirus outbreak, with Congress arguing over a nearly $2
trillion economic rescue package and an impatient President Donald Trump
musing openly about letting the 15-day shutdown expire.

As the U.S. braces for an onslaught of sick Americans, and millions are forced indoors
to avert a spike that risks overwhelming hospitals, the most ambitious
federal intervention in modern times is testing whether Washington can
swiftly halt the pandemic on the home-front. By evening, it appeared
there would be no further votes Monday, and talks would push into the
night.

“It’s time to get with the program, time to pass historic
relief,” said an angry Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as he
opened the chamber after a nonstop weekend session that failed to
produce a deal. “This is a national emergency.”

Fuming, McConnell
warned Democrats — pointedly House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — to quit
stalling on “political games,” as he described Democratic efforts to
steer more of the aid toward public health and workers.

Trump, who
has largely been hands off from the negotiations, weighed in late
Monday from the White House briefing room, declaring that Congress
should vote “for the Senate bill as written,” dismissing any Democratic
proposal.

“It must go quickly,” Trump said. “This is not the time for political agendas.”

The
president also sounded a note of frustration about the unprecedented
modern-day effort to halt the virus’s march by essentially shutting down
public activities in ways that now threaten the U.S. economy.

Even
though Trump’s administration recommended Americans curtail activities
starting a week ago, the president said: “We cannot let the cure be
worse than the problem itself. At the end of the 15-day period, we will
make a decision as to which way we want to go.”

“Let’s go to work,” he said. “This country was not built to be shut down. This is not a county that was built for this.”

Trump
said that he may soon allow parts of the nation’s economy, in regions
less badly hit by the virus, to begin reopening, contradicting the
advice of medical and public health experts across the country, if not
the globe, to hunker down even more firmly.

Pelosi assailed Trump’s idea and fluctuating response to the crisis.

“He’s
a notion-monger, just tossing out things that have no relationship to a
well coordinated, science-based, government-wide response to this,”
Pelosi said on a health-care conference call. “Thank God for the
governors who are taking the lead in their state. Thank God for some of
the people in the administration who speak truth to power.”

The
White House team led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin worked on
Capitol Hill for a fourth straight day of talks as negotiators narrowed
on a bipartisan accord.

Int the nearly empty building, the virus
continued to strike close. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who
announced he tested positive for coronavirus, is now among five senators
under self-quarantine. Several other lawmakers have cycled in and out
of isolation. And the husband of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is in a
hospital with pneumonia after testing positive, she said Monday.

With a wary population watching and waiting, Washington labored under the size and scope of a rescue package — larger than the 2008 bank bailout and 2009 recovery act combined.

Democrats
are holding out as they argue the package is tilted toward corporations
and should do more to help suddenly jobless workers and health care
providers with dire needs.

In particular, Senate Democratic
leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wants constraints on the largely
Republican-led effort to provide $500 billion for corporations.
Democrats call that a “slush fund.”

Yet, he said, “We’re very
close to reaching a deal.” Even so, another attempt to move the package
forward snagged, blocked as Democrats refused to quit negotiating.

Democrats
won one concession — to provide four months of expanded unemployment
benefits, rather than just three as proposed, according to an official
granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. The jobless pay also
would extend to self-employed and so-called gig workers.

But
Republicans complained Democrats were holding out for more labor
protections for workers, wanting assurances that corporations taking
federal aid will commit to retaining their employees.

Pelosi came
out with the House Democrats’ own sweeping $2.5 trillion bill, which
would provide $1,500 directly to the public and $200 billion to the
states, as governors are pleading for aid. She urged Senate negotiators
“to move closer to the values” in it.

Trump has balked at using
his authority under the recently invoked Defense Protection Act to
compel the private sector to manufacture needed medical supplies like
masks and ventilators, even as he encourages them to spur production.
“We are a country not based on nationalizing our business,” said Trump,
who has repeatedly railed against socialism overseas and among
Democrats.

From his home, Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden
criticized Trump for stopping short of using the full force of emergency
federal authority .

“Trump keeps saying he’s a wartime president,” Biden said in an online address. “Well, start acting like one.”

On
the economic front, the Federal Reserve announced Monday it will lend
to small and large businesses and local governments as well as extend
its bond-buying programs as part of a series of sweeping steps to
support the flow of credit through an economy ravaged by the viral
outbreak.

Central to the emerging rescue package is as much as
$350 billion for small businesses to keep making payroll while workers
are forced to stay home. The package also proposes a one-time rebate of
about $1,200 per person, or $3,000 for a family of four, as well as
extended unemployment benefits.

Hospitals would get about $110
billion for the expected influx of sick patients, said Mnuchin. But
Democrats are pushing for more health-care dollars for the front-line
hospitals and workers.

The urgency to act is mounting, as jobless
claims skyrocket and financial markets are eager for signs that
Washington can soften the blow of the health-care crisis and what
experts say is a looming recession.

For most people, the new
coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and
cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health
problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The
vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the
World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two
weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks
to recover.

Bev Banks contributed. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Colleen Long, Hope Yen, Mary Clare Jalonick, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Alan Fram and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.