On Monday, February 1st, Biden met with Republican senators to discuss a COVID-19 relief proposal. In a sense of unity, the 10 senators, Vice President Kamala Harris, and President Biden, came together at the White House to discuss the proposal.

Although White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the meeting “an exchange of ideas,” some believe that it’s also a test of Biden’s commitment to unity. Ron Bonjean, a GOP strategist, stated that “this is the first real test to see whether or not President Biden is committed to working with congressional Republicans and creating consensus on policy issues.”

Biden’s presidential campaign message was centered on the idea of unity, which he also conveyed in his speech at the presidential inauguration. In his speech, he claimed that “without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness and fury” and that “unity is the path forward.” This unity is now put to the test, where the Republican proposal was drastically cheaper than Biden’s original proposal. With this in mind, Biden reportedly told the group that “the risk isn’t that we do too much- it’s that we don’t do enough.”

Biden’s proposal is hefty compared to the Republican proposal since he’s advocating for a $1.9 trillion package. In this package, Biden plans to send $1,400 direct payments to millions of Americans. Many Democrats used the claim of high stimulus checks in their respective campaigns, where newly-elected Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael G. Warnock promised $2,ooo stimulus checks to their Georgian voters.

The Republican proposal is significantly smaller than Biden’s, where they’re calling for a $618 billion plan that includes only $1,000 in direct payments to Americans. The group of 10 senators included moderate Republicans who have worked with Democrats on issues before, as well as Republicans who were more closely aligned with former President Donald Trump.

The relief discussions are far from over, both Republicans and Democrats are trying to come to an agreement in the name of unity. After the meeting, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), told reporters it was a “frank and very useful discussion,” yet she “wouldn’t say that we came together on a package tonight. No one expected that in a two-hour meeting.”

The next step of this bipartisan process is for both Republicans and Democrats to come to an agreement on a relief package, which includes the total cost, where the funds will go, etc. If an agreement doesn’t happen, Democrats have the opportunity to potentially pass the bill without Republican support. According to USA Today, Democrats “could advance legislation through a procedure known as “budget reconciliation,” which would require only a simple majority vote in the Senate.” Bonjean stated that this new relief package will need to be approved in the next two weeks if the American people are going to see the benefits by late spring, noting how millions of Americans are waiting for a new relief package. Many Democratic senators believe that there is no time to waste in providing relief to the people, even if that means bypassing and angering some Republicans.

Jared Bernstein, a member of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, told MSNBC that “President Biden is going to fight with every fiber of his being to make sure that an adequately sized rescue plan gets out there.” Bernstein then clarified his statement by saying “that is the rescue plan that he has proposed.”

On an Instagram post regarding the meeting, Biden said that it was a “frank, good-faith discussion” and that he “look[s] forward to more work together.”