Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, doubled on Friday in his opposition to the $ 2,000 stimulus checks and Republicans again blocked last-minute efforts to approve coronavirus relief.
McConnell dismissed the $ 2,000 checks as a “universal gift of money” and is not the right approach to providing targeted relief to those who need it most.
“A big chunk would be essentially socialism for the wealthy,” said McConnell during a New Year’s speech.
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Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Refused the idea that Republicans are now concerned with “socialism for the wealthy” when he said it was okay to grant huge tax breaks to companies. For added effect, he brought poster-sized checks to the Senate floor showing the millions in tax rebates that companies like Amazon, Chevron and Delta Airlines received.
“That’s what socialism is for the rich,” said Sanders of corporate gifts. “Socialism for the rich is not – in the midst of this terrible pandemic – putting a check for $ 2,000 in the hands of working families.”
“I see, if I may say so, a little bit of hypocrisy here,” added Sanders.
Sanders, with the support of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Tried to vote on the $ 2,000 check legislation on Friday. He also sought a vote on a McConnell-backed plan that combines the $ 2,000 checks with Big Tech measures on electoral security and containment – two other priorities for President Trump.
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But Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, objected to the vote, on behalf of an absent Senator Pat Toomey, R-Penn., Who effectively nullified the chances of $ 2,000 checks being passed in the Senate.
Time was running out for a vote since the current Congress ends on Sunday. Any pending legislation would die and would have to be reintroduced in the new session.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., spoke of the urgency of the matter in a plenary speech on Friday, before Republicans rejected his separate request for a vote.
“If the Senate does not act today, checks for $ 2,000 will not become law before the end of Congress and they will know that leader McConnell and the Republican majority have prevented them from receiving the checks – quite simply,” Schumer said. “This is the last chance.”
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Senator John Thune, RS.D., objected to Schumer’s request to vote on the $ 2,000 checks, arguing that sending checks to six-figure families unaffected by the pandemic “is not fiscally responsible.”
“It is not intended to help those who need it most,” said Thune.
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Congress has already approved $ 600 checks as part of a broader $ 900 billion aid package. These checks are being distributed. While Trump signed bipartisan legislation, he also demanded checks over $ 2,000. The Chamber agreed to pass autonomous legislation and send it to the Senate, where it was blocked.
Hawley expressed frustration that a measure that would pass the Senate cannot even be voted on.
“This appears to be the Senate against the United States of America,” said Hawley.