Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell presented his own version of a bill on Wednesday to increase the $ 600 stimulus checks from the coronavirus aid package to $ 2,000, but also included two other priorities for President Trump.
The legislation would also repeal Section 230, the controversial liability protection for online platforms, and create a committee on the Electoral Assistance Commission to study electoral integrity.
McConnell set the table for a bill to address these three issues in his speech on Tuesday.
“During this process, the president highlighted three additional issues of national importance that he would like Congress to resolve together,” said McConnell, before listing the president’s complaints about the value of the stimulus payment, Section 230 and the election.
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“These are the three important issues that the president has linked,” said McConnell. “This week, the Senate will start a process to put these three priorities in focus.”
The comments were not a firm promise that any of these issues would receive a vote or that McConnell would press for them especially. And McConnell’s own project is unlikely to win the support of the 60 senators who would be needed to break an obstruction. Some Republicans, especially the few who have said they are in favor of $ 2,000 stimulus checks, would likely support the bill, but most Democrats are unlikely to vote in favor due to other issues addressed by the McConnell bill.
What McConnell’s project could do, however, is to allow Republican Party senators who wish to be able to say that they voted for $ 2,000 stimulus checks to do so while protecting the priorities of most of their caucuses, which they previously did. opposed checks.
Sen. David Perdue. R-Ga., One of the Republicans who said he supports checks for $ 2,000 – and is also in a fierce dispute scheduled for January 5 to hold his seat – said in “Fox & Friends” Wednesday that he supports the McConnell account.
“The Democrats themselves have held this for months and therefore, here at the last minute, they are complaining about the normal functioning of the Senate,” said Perdue. “I am a stranger in this process, but I can say that these things that Mitch McConnell is trying to do are in line with what the President said. I support what the President is trying to do with Section 230, the repeal of that and also $ 2,000 stimulus checks. We totally agree with that. “
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., called McConnell’s proposal a “cynical gambit”.
Trump, meanwhile, warned Republicans that they should support the quick delivery of stimulus checks, unless they “have a death wish” in a Tuesday tweet. He doubled down on Wednesday morning, saying, “$ 2,000 ASAP!”
McConnell on Tuesday blocked attempts by Schumer and Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., To quickly pass the House bill on stimulus checks that released the lower house with more than two-thirds of the members voting in favor of Monday.
Whether the House project or McConnell’s project will receive votes, it will be up to McConnell, who controls the action in plenary. The majority leader is prioritizing efforts to overturn Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which funds the military for next year.
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Trump objected to the fact that the bill renamed the bases under the name of Confederates and did not repeal Section 230, but the legislation was overwhelmingly passed in the House and Senate. The Chamber has already voted to override the president’s veto.
Sanders delayed McConnell’s efforts on the defense bill in an attempt to extract concessions on stimulus checks. But if McConnell goes ahead as scheduled, there could be a vote to end the debate over the veto overturn on Friday and a final vote to override the veto on Saturday.
The current Congress ends on Sunday, January 3, which means that any further action on stimulus checks must happen quickly. At that time, legislators will have to completely restart the legislative process.
Jason Donner of Fox News contributed to this report.