“What they’ve tried to do is pick apart individual pieces of it,” Representative Richard E.

Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts and the chairman of the House Ways and Means
Committee, said in an interview. “But I think on an overall basis, you have to contrast
that with how well this is being received across the country.”

Some Republican lawmakers and aides acknowledge the challenge they face in trying to
explain to voters why they object to the package, particularly after reaching agreement
with Democrats on several rounds of aid earlier in the crisis. Many of those negotiations
were contentious and stretched for months; Mr. Biden has said he will not wait for
Republicans to join his effort, citing the urgency of the economy’s needs.

“We’ve shown over five different bills we can do it together,” said Senator Shelley Moore
Capito, Republican of West Virginia and one of the lawmakers who had met privately
with Mr. Biden to discuss both economic relief and infrastructure plans. “I think we’re
going to have to draw a contrast of what’s in there and does not make sense.”

While explaining their opposition to voters would be a challenge, she said, supporting
the bill is not an option for most Republicans.

“The price tag in the end is just so inordinately high and has too many extraneous things
in it to gain any real support in the Republican Party.”
The scattershot critique is a contrast from the last time a president used the
parliamentary move, called budget reconciliation, to push a major proposal: the $1.5
trillion tax cut package that Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans passed in 2017
without any Democratic votes. Shortly before the first House hearing on the tax cuts,
Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee made a plan to brand the bill as a “tax
scam” benefiting the rich and the powerful, before Republicans could sell it as a boon to
the middle class.
Image
Representative Tom Reed of New York was one of the moderate Republicans who
initially spoke with White House officials in a bid to reach a compromise on the stimulus
package.Credit...Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times

Mr. Trump’s tax cuts took a hit in public polling, and they gave little boost to Republican
candidates in the 2018 midterm elections that followed. Republicans have found similar
success in recent years driving the popularity of signature legislation under Democratic
presidents, most notably President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act in 2010.

Representative Donald S. Beyer Jr., Democrat of Virginia, recalled the warning he heard
from leaders in his party in 2017: “Republicans are great at talking in headlines, and
we’re great at talking in fine print.” Democrats’ ability to pick a pithy message and stick
with it in the tax debate, he said, was “one of the few times we ran against type.”

Many Republicans remain confident that their attacks will begin to resonate in this
debate. One senior Republican aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that with
attention focused on the legislation this week, members would continue to highlight
provisions that are seen as longtime liberal priorities, as well as the money left over from
previous relief packages. Republicans also plan to question whether the new funds
would deliver on promises to improve the economy and reopen schools.

“I think we do have an obligation to ask questions,” said Representative Tom Reed of

New York, one of the moderate Republicans who initially spoke with White House
officials in a bid to reach a compromise. He predicted that once voters focused on
individual provisions that demonstrated the package’s largess and overreach, they
would sour on the overall proposal.

“It’s human nature, and I get it, but can we try to move forward in a much more
productive manner?” Mr. Reed added, echoing the process complaints already
percolating among Republicans in both chambers.

Polls suggest that could be a tough fight for Republicans, as many of the bill’s provisions
are widely popular. In the SurveyMonkey poll, 4 in 5 respondents said it was important
for the relief bill to include $1,400 direct checks, including nearly 7 in 10 Republicans. A
similarly large group of respondents said it was important to include aid to state and
local governments and money for vaccine deployment.