“Which is worse, the illness or our 'fix'?” tweeted Hice. “Americans stand up to challenges. Don't succumb to fear! Trust in God. Protect yourself and others, and move forward!”

The “boogeywoman” attack line on Pelosi has seemed to lose its potency in recent years. Democrats were able to sweep back into power in the House in 2018, with Pelosi at the helm, despite Republicans’ persistent efforts to paint every Democratic candidate as a Pelosi disciple. Trump’s ubiquitous, divisive presence may have also drowned out attacks on other political leaders.

Senate Democrats were quick to blast the move, saying Republicans are only attacking the speaker because they don’t have an adequate rebuttal to Democratic accusations of a corporate “slush fund” being pushed by the GOP. Democrats worry that a massive pot of relief for distressed industries could be abused by corporations, and are pushing for more oversight and restrictions on the $500 billion “Exchange Stabilization Fund.”

Democrats said it’s also ridiculous to insist that Pelosi, as the leader of the House, should just accept whatever deal the Senate agrees to and force that package through her chamber.

“That fact that Speaker Pelosi is interested — she should be. She should be more than interested, she should be at the table and involved in making a decision on this,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

“It’s pretty obvious that if we’re going to pass this measure and do it with dispatch, we need to have cooperation on both sides of the rotunda, not just a bill acceptable to the Senate but to the House as well.”

That’s not to say Pelosi hasn’t been heavily involved in the ongoing negotiations to pass the massive package. She has been in close contact with Schumer on the legislation, which would provide billions to keep industries and small businesses afloat while also expanding unemployment insurance, funding desperately needed hospital supplies and sending direct cash payments to Americans.

Pelosi has also taken steps to insulate herself from attacks that she’s standing in the way of bipartisan progress. Along the way, she’s emphasized her frequent and repeated contact with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to signal that efforts to reach a deal are ongoing.

After a week back home in San Francisco, Pelosi flew back to Washington Saturday to huddle with Schumer and Mnuchin in person. For days, Pelosi had been demanding McConnell hammer out a deal with her, Schumer and McCarthy, a request McConnell repeatedly denied.

When the House crafted its second coronavirus relief bill earlier this month, McConnell mostly stayed out of the negotiations — and Republicans had hoped Pelosi would extend the same courtesy when the Senate began work on a third, but much bigger, emergency package.

So when an initial procedural vote failed on Sunday, the GOP was quick to funnel their anger into attacking Pelosi for saying she would push ahead with her own bill.

"[Pelosi] cannot craft another bill. Time is of the essence,” said McCarthy. “You know what Mitch McConnell did? He did from the bottom up. He had Democrats and Republican senators together actually working out the bill. It was the leaders who came in and stopped this process.”

But Democrats countered that Republicans shouldn't have moved ahead if they didn't have the votes.

"The majority leader was well aware of how the vote would go before it happened but he chose to go forward with it anyway even though negotiations are continuing," Schumer said on the floor. "So who's playing games?"

Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.