Bernie Sanders criticized Senate Republicans for “turning their backs” on Americans after Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell blocked a Democratic effort to increase stimulus checks from $ 600 to $ 2,000 on Tuesday.
“We are at a historic moment. Do we turn our backs on working families who are suffering like never before? Or do we give them the help they need?” Sanders, an independent Vermont senator, tweeted on Tuesday.
“Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans are turning their backs. Enough is enough! Let the Senate vote on $ 2,000 checks!” he added.
We are at a historic moment. Do we turn our backs on working families who are suffering like never before? Or do we provide the help they need?
Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans are turning their backs. Enough! Let the Senate vote on $ 2,000 checks! https://t.co/s8hHB1AqeK
– Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 29, 2020
On Monday, the House of Representatives passed the Supplementary Aid Care Act for Americans (CASH) in a bipartisan vote 275-134. The move would increase stimulus checks from $ 600 for individuals, as provided for in the current aid package, to $ 2,000, meeting a demand from President Donald Trump to do so.
In response, McConnell said on Tuesday that his camera “would begin a process” to consider coronavirus relief demands, but quickly blocked two efforts to unanimously pass the legislation.
Speaking from the Senate floor, McConnell noted a list of demands that Trump issued, which includes increasing direct payments to $ 2,000, investigating the 2020 election, and regulating major technology companies, including Twitter and Facebook, through Section repeal. 230.
“This week the Senate will start a process to bring these three priorities into focus,” he said. But when Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer asked for unanimous consent from the Senate floor to raise stimulus payments to $ 2,000, McConnell promptly objected.
“The quickest way to put money in Americans’ pockets is to send some of their taxes back where they came from,” said Schumer. “Two-thousand-dollar stimulus checks can mean the difference between American families who do groceries for a few extra weeks or go hungry.”
Minutes later, Sanders asked for unanimous consent to increase payments after Wednesday’s vote on the National Defense Authorization Act, but McConnell also rejected that.
NICHOLAS KAMM / Getty
Instead of allowing efforts to pass quickly on Tuesday, McConnell introduced a combined bill that links the $ 2,000 to direct payments to Trump’s request to regulate technology companies and commission an election fraud study.
But Schumer criticized this approach and accused McConnell of trying to eliminate stimulus checks by adding “unrelated party provisions” to the CASH Act.
“Senator McConnell knows how to make $ 2,000 survival checks a reality and knows how to kill them. If Senator McConnell tries to fill the approved CASH bipartisan with unrelated party provisions that will do absolutely nothing to help families in difficulties across the country, it will not pass the House and it cannot become law, “he said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Any move like this by Senator McConnell would be a blatant attempt to deprive Americans of a $ 2,000 survival check,” he added.
In an effort to increase pressure, Sanders threatened to delay the Senate vote to overturn Trump’s veto on the defense spending package on Wednesday, unless McConnell allows the chamber to vote on the $ 2,000 payments introduced by the CASH Act .
“I think Leader McConnell is going to tell us what’s going to happen, but I would say that at a time when two-thirds of the House voted to provide these checks for $ 2,000, the overwhelming majority of Americans want this. Trump wants, Biden wants, Pelosi wants it, Schumer wants it. We are going to vote and approve this damn thing, “Sanders said on Tuesday, according to ABC News.
On Tuesday, Trump gave his opinion on the matter, telling Republicans that passing the increased stimulus checks was “the right thing to do”.
“Unless Republicans have a desire to die, and that is also the right thing to do, they must approve payments of $ 2,000 as soon as possible. $ 600 IS NOT ENOUGH!” Trump tweeted. He added: “Also, get rid of Section 230 – Don’t let Big Tech steal our country and don’t let Democrats steal the presidential election.”
Newsweek contacted Sanders for further comments, but received no response in time for publication.