The US House of Representatives voted on Monday to pass a bill to increase the $ 600 to $ 2,000 stimulus checks, with 275 members voting in favor and 134 votes against. The bill received the necessary two-thirds majority of members voting to pass the House.
But he faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is also needed for the bill to reach President Trump’s table. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has not indicated whether to vote on the bigger checks.
Senator Bernie Sanders, a $ 2,000 check advocate, asked McConnell to take the vote to the floor. He tweeted that if McConnell does not present a vote, he will oppose the vote to overturn Trump’s veto of the defense financing bill. While Sanders cannot prevent the veto from happening, he can obstruct it after New Year’s Day – which would cause the Republican Party a headache.
Last week, Trump urged Congress to increase stimulus checks to $ 2,000, threatening not to sign the COVID-19 economic relief package, which gave Americans $ 600 checks. But on Sunday night, the president gave in and signed the legislation.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi immediately accepted the president’s insistence on $ 2,000 checks, establishing Monday’s vote in the House floor.
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Almost all Democrats voted in favor of legislation to increase checks, and most of the members who voted against the increase are Republicans.
A handful of Senate Republicans, including Senator Josh Hawley and Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump’s ally, supported the idea of greater stimulus checks for all Americans, but are likely to encounter friction with the more conservative members of the dot party. from a fiscal point of view.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
—Kimberly Brown contributed reporting.