Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has blocked Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) effort to unanimously pass a House standalone measure that would boost the size of stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000 per person.
Why it matters: President Trump has demanded that the payments be increased, creating a rift between him and Senate GOP leadership ahead of a crucial runoff election in Georgia that will determine control of the chamber.
The state of play: The House voted 275-134 to pass the $2,000 direct payments bill on Tuesday, with 44 Republicans joining the majority of Democrats.
- Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and David Perdue, the two senators running for re-election in the Jan. 5 runoff, both came out in support of the $2,000 checks earlier on Tuesday.
- Republican Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) have also publicly said they will support the measure.
- 12 Republicans in total are needed to reach the 60-vote threshold to pass the bill if all Senate Democrats vote in favor, as expected.
What to watch: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has pledged to delay the Senate’s plans to override Trump’s veto of a crucial defense-spending package unless McConnell holds a full recorded vote on the direct payments measure — keeping the Senate in session during the holiday week and disrupting Loeffler and Perdue’s campaign plans.
What they’re saying: “A vast majority of the public, Republican and Democrat, strongly support $2,000 checks. An overwhelming bipartisan majority in the House supports $2,000 checks. Senate Democrats strongly support $2,000 checks. Even President Trump supports $2,000 checks,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
- “There is one question left today — do Senate Republicans join with the rest of America in supporting $2,000 checks?” he continued.
- “Now some of my Republican colleagues have said they support the checks, but there is a major difference in saying you support $2,000 checks and fighting to put them into law. The House bill is the only way, the only way, to deliver these stimulus checks before the end of session.”
{Matzav.com}
I certainly hope for the 2K checks. But there is a valid point to reject the idea. The national debt is completely out of hand. The bill that was passed with the $600 was full of wasteful pork, ridiculous foreign aid, and pet projects that these Democrat thieves stuffed in there. Those items need to be stricken from the bill. They are unrelated to COVID, and are nothing more than the Dems ripping off the population of taxpayers. And for those who might wonder, expanding the national debt only supports China. The Republicans are not against the additional money for Americans. They are against giving Palestinians terror money, and bigger checks for Pakistan and Afghanistan plus the illegal immigrants in California than for Americans.
or maybe you would realize it wasn’t a corona bill but a regular funding bill that corona relief was tagged on to. and your “news” source purposely misled you. it was a regular omnibus bill. why wouldn’t their be “frivolous spending in it?
The Republicans only bring up the national debt when it is convenient for them. Under obama they would constantly discuss it however under trump when it has gone up trillions of dollars they rarely discuss it. They passed this covid bill with billions of waste and billions for businesses that dont need the funds (a business with 25 percent decrease in revenue in one quarter of 2020 can receive 10 weeks of payroll besides their first ppp.. ) Yet when it comes to give citizens money oh sorry we ran out.
You know nothing
McConnell should be removed from work for a year without pay and let’s see how he’ll react then. In the meantime we should take his paycheck and give it to those who need it more than him.