“I do not think that he will prevail in his quest. And I question why he is doing it when the courts have unanimously thrown out the suits that the president’s team have filed for lack of credible evidence,” Collins said. “Senator Hawley is a smart attorney who clerked for the Supreme Court, so he clearly understands that. So I don’t understand.”
Asked if she would vote against objections, Collins said “absolutely,” absent “some very unexpected revelation that I cannot imagine that would occur.”
The issue came up during a Senate GOP caucus call on Thursday, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
2020: A year in photos thehill.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehill.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
McConnell has offered a competing measure that would tie an increase in the checks to removing a legal shield for tech companies and creating a commission to examine the 2020 elections. But that proposal is viewed as a non-starter for Democrats, underscoring that the GOP leader’s bill also is unable to pass the Senate.
“There is no other game in town beside the House bill. . The House has recessed for the year. Any modification or addition, the House bill cannot become law before the end of this Congress,” Schumer said.
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If the Senate passes anything besides the exact language of the House bill, the measure would need to bounce back across the Capitol and passed for a second time by the House, where lawmakers have already left town and aren’t expected to return until Sunday for the swearing in of the 117th Congress.
The back-and-forth on the floor comes after McConnell signaled on Wednesday that the Senate would not pass the House bill, warning that they were not going to split increasing the checks from repealing Section 230, a legal shield used by tech companies, and a commission on the 2020 election.
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McConnell, on Thursday, teed off against the House bill, characterizing it as socialism for rich people because under the House-passed bill some higher income households who hadn t been expected to get a payment under the $2.3 trillion deal could be eligible. Our colleagues who purport to be the champions of vulnerable Americans now say that what struggling people really need is for Congress to stop focusing on targeted relief for them specifically and to instead send thousands of dollars to people who don t need help, McConnell said from the Senate floor.
ADVERTISEMENT The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats rich friends who don t need the help, McConnell said.
McConnell has offered a competing measure that would tie an increase in the checks to removing a legal shield for tech companies and creating a commission to examine the 2020 elections. But that proposal is viewed as a non-starter for Democrats.
Graham says McConnell is correct in saying that a stand-alone vote couldn t happen by Jan. 3. However, the new Congress begins that day at noon, and the vote stands a chance there.