Psaki says White House will seek bipartisan COVID-19 deal but ‘we’re not going to wait for a kumbaya’

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told Showtime’s “The Circus” in a new interview that the administration is working to secure bipartisan cooperation on coronavirus relief but that President Biden would not “wait for a kumbaya” if it threatens to delay aid for Americans.

Asked in Sunday’s episode whether at a certain point the White House would “put bipartisanship aside” if it becomes an insurmountable obstacle to action on pandemic relief, Psaki replied, “Maybe, we’ll see.”

“We’re not going to wait for a kumbaya if it’s delaying getting relief to the public, but we’re going to try for bipartisan package and a bipartisan approach first,” she said in an interview conducted just after her first White House briefing. “That requires lots of talks and engagement, conversations, but it’s our first goal and we’ll see if it takes.”

Asked how the Biden administration intended to reconcile its emphasis on unity with implementing the president’s agenda, Psaki said “we have to kind of keep our blinders on and focus on what we feel the American public elected him to do, which is to address COVID, address COVID, address COVID.”

Republicans have balked at the $1.9 trillion price tag of Biden’s COVID-19 proposal. Negotiations are ongoing, but Democrats are beginning to call for action with or without GOP buy-in.

During the same interview, Psaki said the Trump administration’s adversarial handling of the press is “not my model” for performing her duties, saying she thinks it is important “to convey that we will disagree, at times, in the briefing room and I think it’s important for the public to see that. That’s part of the healthy back-and-forth that’s part of democracy.”

—Updated at 3:45 p.m.