Washington (CNN) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday defended the Senate Republicans coming up with a proposed $1 trillion economic stimulus plan to battle the coronavirus without any input from Democrats, saying bipartisan negotiations were skipped in favor of speed.

"Actually, it's speeding it up. We just passed yesterday a bill, it was written in the Democratic House of Representatives," McConnell told CNN's Dana Bash in an interview.

"The Republicans are in the majority in the Senate. We wanted to put forward our proposal. We feel like we have an obligation to do that as a majority and the Democrats, of course, need to be given an opportunity to react to it and that all begins tomorrow. So don't create controversy where there isn't controversy."

The emergency economic aid proposal would include direct payments to Americans under a certain income threshold, $200 billion in loans to airlines and distressed industry sectors and $300 billion in forgivable bridge loans for small businesses. The proposal's formal rollout sets the stage for Republicans and Democrats to try to reach a bipartisan agreement to move a stimulus package forward as the virus continues to spread.

When Bash pushed the Kentucky Republican on whether moving forward without Democrats at the start of the process will actually slow the bill's passage, McConnell said, "This is the quickest way to get it done. Trust me, this is the quickest way to get it done, exactly the way we're doing it."

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