House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that House Democrats would vote on Monday for a stand-alone bill that would provide Americans with direct payments of $ 2,000 per person.
Pelosi, D-Calif., Made the announcement moments after House Republicans blocked a Democratic offer to increase payments, as approved in the stimulus bill earlier this week, from $ 600 per person to $ 2,000.
“On Monday, I will bring the Chamber back to the session, where we will hold a registered vote on our independent bill to increase payments of economic impact to $ 2,000. Voting against this bill is to deny the financial difficulties that families face and deny them the relief they need, “Pelosi said in a statement on Thursday morning.
“Hopefully, by then, the president will have already signed bipartisan and bicameral legislation to keep the government open and provide relief for the coronavirus,” she said.
The House is suspended until Monday afternoon, when members will also vote on whether to overturn President Donald Trump’s veto of the annual defense authorization bill.
Thursday’s failed vote was the last chapter in the saga of lawmakers’ attempts to approve a huge stimulus package to provide economic relief during the paralyzing pandemic and the subsequent economic collapse.
Trump destroyed the year-end spending and Covid-19’s aid package this week, saying it includes many provisions that have nothing to do with the pandemic and that it is very stingy with payments to ordinary Americans. The $ 900 billion aid package, approved by both chambers of Congress, included a new round of direct payments and aid for unemployed Americans, families and companies struggling with the pandemic.
Inside a video posted on TwitterTrump complained on Tuesday night that the $ 600 stimulus checks were too small, arguing that qualified individuals should receive $ 2,000 and couples should receive $ 4,000.
Following Trump’s comments, House Democrats were quick to schedule a vote to increase payments as Trump demanded. Since many members of the House are out of town, said the majority leader in the House, Steny Hoyer, D-Md., The leaders tried to approve the project by unanimous consent, which meant that any member alone could kill him.
His failure to move on Thursday morning casts doubt on the future of any impending financial relief for millions of struggling Americans.
Hoyer criticized House Republicans on Thursday for blocking increased direct aid and Trump for not yet signing spending and relief legislation at his desk. Hoyer repeatedly referred to Trump’s videotaped statement calling direct payments of $ 600 “insufficient” and said that’s why “we responded this morning”. The request for unanimous consent to approve the increase in payments was “consistent with the president’s request,” said Hoyer.
A senior Senate Republican also asked Trump to sign the bill on Thursday, adding that he did not support increased payments.
“The best way out of this is for the president to sign the bill, and I still hope that’s what he decides to do,” Roy Blunt, Missouri, chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, told reporters.
Asked whether a bill to increase direct pay checks from $ 600 to $ 2,000 would have the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate, Blunt said: “No, no.”
Trump’s comments on Tuesday sent Washington into chaos after lawmakers spent months discussing a deal on most of the legislation of the year, and left many frustrated that Trump waited so long to voice his concerns after being left out of office. negotiation process.
Before Trump spoke, all signs and expectations were that he intended to sign the law as soon as it landed on his desk. White House aides also said that.
House Democrats, who advocated higher direct checks just to find Republican resistance in the Senate, immediately said they welcomed Trump’s support to send more money.
The legislation already passed by Congress includes two bills that have been combined: one was the Covid-19 relief and stimulus bill and the other was a major bill to finance the government through September. If the spending bill is not approved, the government will have to start closing its doors from Tuesday.
Pelosi tweeted on Thursday afternoon that the the bill was being sent to Trump and urged him to sign.
Hoyer said earlier, “We are not going to allow the government to close,” adding, “We are considering options and what steps we will take.”
After the vote on direct payments failed, House Republicans made their own unanimous request to “revisit” the foreign aid portion of the $ 1.4 trillion overhead package, a move that Democrats then blocked. . Trump protested the waste of foreign spending in his comments this week, although his own budget proposal included the provisions he chose for criticism.