Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York speaks during a news conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington. He told senators to be ready to vote next week on a budget reconciliation that would lay the groundwork for President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are preparing to push ahead quickly on President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told senators to be ready to vote as soon as next week on a budget reconciliation package that would lay the groundwork for swift passage.

Coming so soon in Biden’s administration, the action provides a first test of Republican reaction to the White House as well as to the new president’s promise of a “unity” agenda.

“The work must move forward, preferably with our Republican colleagues, but without them if we must,” Schumer said after a private meeting of Democratic senators.

“Time is of the essence to address this crisis. We’re keeping all options open on the table.”

Unwilling to wait for Republicans who argue Biden’s price tag is too high and his priorities too wide-ranging, Democrats are flexing their newfound power as they take control of the Senate alongside the House and White House.

It is the first time in a decade the party has held the full sweep of power in Washington, and Democrats say they have no time to waste trying to broker compromises with Republicans that may, or may not, happen. They have watched Republicans use similar procedural tools to advance their priorities, most recently the Trump administration’s tax cuts.

The White House continued meeting privately with groups of Republican and Democratic lawmakers in hopes of striking a bipartisan agreement. Biden’s COVID-19 aid package includes money for vaccine distribution, school reopenings and $1,400 direct payments to households and boosts the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over five years.

The next steps remain highly fluid.

The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus of more than 50 House lawmakers met virtually Tuesday with top administration officials on the virus aid and economic recovery package.

The dozen senators emerging from a lengthy private meeting with the White House on Sunday are talking on their own to try to craft a more targeted bill. The bipartisan senators assembled privately again Monday evening.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who led a bipartisan effort for the last $900 billion relief package, is working again with the senators on crafting an alternative package that she has said would be more focused on money for vaccine distribution and tailored assistance for the neediest Americans.

Collins said Tuesday that the White House made good on its commitment to deliver a more detailed accounting of the proposed expenditure. But she said the group is still waiting for data on how much funding remains unallocated from past relief measures that, by her tally, totals a whopping $1.8 trillion still unspent.