Top Republican lawmakers continued to sound skeptical this past week about the need for a fourth package from Washington to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic damage.

“I know the speaker is trying to talk about a fourth bill. I don’t think that’s appropriate at this time,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican, in a Thursday conference call with reporters, referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat.

His comments come after President Donald Trump and Pelosi both said earlier this week that Washington’s “Phase 4” response to the coronavirus crisis ought to include big spending on infrastructure.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell joined McCarthy in expressing doubts about a fourth package in the wake of the “Phase 3” response that’s costing $2.2 trillion. The Kentucky Republican told The Washington Post on Wednesday that Pelosi’s latest push is “premature,” and he also said there has been “a lot of fantasizing on both sides about massive packages.” On Tuesday, the head of the Republican-controlled Senate told talk show host Hugh Hewitt that he was taking a wait-and-see approach on additional legislation.

McCarthy said on Thursday that the Democratic-led House’s focus should be on making sure the stimulus package that was just enacted last week is implemented correctly. “I’m not opposed to infrastructure. What I’m opposed to is using a crisis to try to restructure government,” he also said.

His remarks on Thursday echoed what he said as the week began.

“I’m not sure we need a fourth package,” the top House Republican told Fox News on Sunday. “Before we go to start drafting a fourth package, I’d like these three packages we just put out — remember, it’s more than $2 trillion, the largest we’ve ever seen — to take care and get this economy moving.”

Pelosi and other top Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday provided some additional details on what they aim to get in terms of infrastructure spending. They talked up not just transportation projects but also health centers, water systems and broadband internet and said they would follow the framework of a $760 billion plan unveiled in January. On Thursday, Pelosi announced a new House committee that would provide oversight on virus-related spending, in a move that drew criticism from McCarthy, who described the panel as seeming “really redundant.”

U.S. stocks DJIA, -0.93% SPX, -1.42% were lower Friday and on track for weekly losses, and they have been hammered in the past month by coronavirus-related worries, though last week brought gains that analysts pinned on stimulus hopes.

McCarthy’s comments followed Thursday morning’s news that a record 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, as the all-out effort to slow the coronavirus slammed the economy. On Friday, the U.S. payrolls report for March showed a much-greater-than-expected 701,000 jobs lost last month, with the unemployment rate rising to 4.4%.

This is an updated version of a report first published on April 2, 2020.