Trump Is Right and Everything Else Bernie Sanders Has Said About $2,000 Stimulus Checks
On 12/31/20 at 3:58 PM EST
Since the spring, Senator Bernie Sanders has been a leading advocate for direct payments as part of economic relief measures during the pandemic, but over the past week he s been hailed a national treasure for his efforts to get $2,000 stimulus checks approved in Congress.
The push has found Sanders on the same side as President Donald Trump, who kick-started the legislative battle by slamming the $600 checks included in the latest coronavirus relief package as ridiculously low. The president said the amount should be raised to $2,000.
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Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York pilloried Rep. Kurt Schrader after the Oregon Democrat voted against an amendment to increase one-time direct payments to most Americans from $600 to $2,000, which passed the House on Monday when 44 Republicans joined 231 Democrats in supporting the bill now awaiting action in the Senate.
Schrader opposed the Caring for Americans With Supplemental Help (CASH) Act because, according to the lawmaker whose net worth hovered close to $8 million in 2018 people who are making six figure incomes and who have not been impact[ed] by Covid-19 do not need checks.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Courthouse News photo/Jack Rodgers)
WASHINGTON (CN) House lawmakers voted Monday to increase coronavirus relief payments from $600 to $2,000, but the legislation could hit a roadblock in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The CASH Act – short for Caring for Americans With Supplemental Help – more than triples the direct payments that were included in the $900 billion stimulus package passed last week. The measure passed in a 275-134 vote late Monday.
The increase would cost another $300 billion if it clears the Senate and is signed by President Trump – $464 billion compared to $164 billion for the $600 checks to people making up to $75,000 a year.
The Capitol is seen through tree branches on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON (CN) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused Tuesday to schedule a vote on the House-passed bill that would increase the Covid-19 stimulus checks for Americans from $600 to $2,000.
The CASH Act short for Caring for Americans With Supplemental Help was flung to the body a day after achieving a two-thirds majority in the Democratic-controlled House. Adults making up to $75,000 annually would receive direct payments under the bill introduced on Christmas. On the same evening, the House sent its super-majority backed bill to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a $740.5 billion spending bill for American defense in 2021, known as the National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA.
Second coronavirus check: House passes $2,000 payments; What about $600 checks?
Updated Dec 29, 2020;
Posted Dec 29, 2020
While the House measure would raise the coronavirus stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000 per person, the increase faces a tough fight in the Republican-controlled Senate.
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Don’t make plans for the money quite yet, however.
While the House measure would raise the coronavirus stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000 per person, the increase faces a tough fight in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The House’s approval – made on a 275-134 bipartisan vote - is the latest in the strange saga of the second round of coronavirus payments. After months of failed negotiations, both the House and Senate passed a $2.3 trillion funding measure and COVID relief package that included the lower payments, only to have President Trump push for the higher amounts. Democrats quickly jumped on board and, while Trump signed the bill with the $600 payments, he