McConnell blocks vote on $2,000 stimulus checks
December 29, 2020
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday blocked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer s (D-N.Y.) motion to increase, by unanimous consent, stimulus checks for qualifying Americans to $2,000 from the $600 included in Congress $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill. McConnell also blocked a request to vote on the issue immediately from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who then followed through on his threat to delay a Wednesday vote to override President Trump s veto on a military defense defense spending bill, CNBC notes.
McConnell s actions weren t the end of the debate around increasing the checks, a measure already passed by the House that is supported by Trump, Senate Democrats, and a handful of Republicans. He said the upper chamber will in fact begin a process to bring the direct payments into focus, along with unrelated complaints from Trump, including unfounded allegations of widespread voter frau
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Source: AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Trump signed the bipartisan COVID relief package into law earlier this week, which legislates $600 direct stimulus checks for Americans burdened by the pandemic, but is urging Congress to double the price tag after the legislation passed both chambers with a veto-proof majority. The president, and a handful of both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, want $2,000 checks given to Americans. President Trump said on Tuesday morning that the American people “have suffered enough from the China virus” and deserve a more substantial stimulus.
$2000 for our great people, not $600! They have suffered enough from the China Virus!!! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2020
Julie Bennett / AP
Updated at 3:26 p.m. ET
President Trump s done it again.
The man who threatened to cause a ruckus in Washington and has done so over his four years in office introduced a new round of disarray Tuesday night.
Trump s pre-Christmas chaos includes:
Wanting to strip a larger spending package of foreign aid and items such as funding for new museums; and
Vetoing the defense authorization act Wednesday, because it doesn t repeal protections for social media outlets he believes to be hostile to conservatives and because the bill gets rid of the names of Confederate generals on several military bases.
Julie Bennett / AP
Updated at 3:26 p.m. ET
President Trump s done it again.
The man who threatened to cause a ruckus in Washington and has done so over his four years in office introduced a new round of disarray Tuesday night.
Trump s pre-Christmas chaos includes:
Wanting to strip a larger spending package of foreign aid and items such as funding for new museums; and
Vetoing the defense authorization act Wednesday, because it doesn t repeal protections for social media outlets he believes to be hostile to conservatives and because the bill gets rid of the names of Confederate generals on several military bases.
December 23, 2020 2:51 p.m.
President Donald Trump’s after-the-fact pronunciation Tuesday night that he wanted to send Americans $2,000 checks rather than the $600 that congressional Republicans had begrudgingly agreed to has left the two Republican senators currently campaigning in Georgia in a tight spot.
On Wednesday, the richest member of Congress wasn’t willing to say that she supported the President’s call to amend legislation she voted to include larger stimulus checks.
Instead, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) simply said she would… take a look at it.
“I certainly support redirecting any wasteful spending to be very targeted at families and businesses who have been impacted by this virus through no fault of their own,” she told reporters in response to a question about the President’s demand, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.