Democratic leaders spoke more positively about the plan, but fell short of embracing it themselves.

The proposal from a group that included Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah and Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat -- who will be pivotal votes on any plans from the Biden administration next year -- included some state and local aid Republicans had opposed and some pandemic liability protections Democrats have resisted.

The outline of McConnell’s plan didn’t provide an overall cost, though many of the provisions track those he’s offered before.

It includes $333 billion in spending on assorted business subsidies including a revised version of the Paycheck Protection Program, as well as funding for schools, vaccines and agriculture and a restoration of 100% expensing of business meals for tax purposes. It does not include a major tranche of state and local aid outside of schools demanded by Democrats and continues to include legal liability protections Democrats have considered to be a poison pill.

It also features a one-month extension of pandemic unemployment relief followed by a two-month phase-out -- considerably stingier than Democrats have been demanding.

McConnell characterized it as a stopgap measure and gave tacit recognition that he expects Biden to assume the presidency.

“After the first of the year, there is likely to be a discussion about some additional package of some size next year, depending upon what the new administration wants to pursue,” said McConnell, who for weeks hasn’t acknowledged Trump’s loss.

‘Just a Start’
At a news conference Tuesday in Delaware, Biden said that any package passed in a lame duck session would likely be “at best just a start.”

He proposed trillions of dollars of new federal spending during his campaign, and advisers have suggested that some of those plans could be included in a post-inauguration stimulus bill.

His Build Back Better proposal included $2 trillion on clean energy and infrastructure, $775 billion to support the “caring economy” including child and elder care, and a $700 billion “Buy American” initiative aimed at using federal procurement and research dollars to boost domestic manufacturing.