Party politics regains upper hand in US

Semblance of bipartisanship dashed with bruising passage of $1.9t relief bill

The pretense of bipartisanship in Washington gave way to party politics during the passage of the latest coronavirus relief funding package.

No Republicans have voted for the new bill in either the House of Representatives or the US Senate. The legislation brings total virus relief spending in the United States to more than $5 trillion.

"After stimulus victory in Senate, reality sinks in: bipartisanship is dead," exclaimed a headline in The New York Times after the vote.