US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks to reporters after the Republican Senate weekly conference meeting at the Mansfield Room at the US Capitol in Washington, December 1, 2020.
Tom Williams | Reuters
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell blocked Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer’s attempt to increase direct payments for the coronavirus relief bill later this year to $ 2,000 by unanimous vote.
The Kentucky Republican faces pressure to act after the House – with almost all Democrats and a few dozen Republicans on board – voted on Monday to increase cash deposits from $ 600 to $ 2,000. Now Senate Republicans, fearful of spending more on pandemic aid, must decide how to handle voting on a bill supported by President Donald Trump and Democrats as they try to maintain their majority.
McConnell brought the camera back this week with one main goal: to overturn Trump’s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. He has yet to commit to taking the $ 2,000 payment bill to a vote, and it is unclear now how it would take shape.
Still, Democrats tried to use the limited tools at their disposal to force a vote. Speaking at the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon, McConnell said he planned to vote on Wednesday over the annulment of the veto.
He outlined three priorities that Trump said he wanted Congress to address when he signed the coronavirus relief bill and government spending on Sunday: higher direct payments, Section 230 legal liability protections for internet platforms and unfounded concerns about widespread electoral fraud. Without detailing any specific plans, he said that “this week, the Senate will start a process to put these three priorities in focus”.
Schumer then asked the Senate to vote to override the veto on the defense bill and pay $ 2,000 and “drop the chips where they can.” When he asked for unanimous consent to increase the size of checks, McConnell objected.
Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Then requested a vote on the larger payments after the NDAA vote on Wednesday. McConnell again objected. So Sanders continued his threat to postpone consideration of the annulment of the veto, objecting to a vote on Wednesday.
Since the Senate needs unanimous support to move quickly on most issues, any senator can stop activities if he wants to.
If the entire house considers stimulus check legislation, all 48 Democrats and independents who met with them would likely vote in favor. She would then need the support of 12 of the 52 House Republicans.
The Treasury Department said payments of $ 600 will begin to be paid later this week. If Congress approves the increase to $ 2,000, it will be added to the original sum.
Since some Republican Party senators opposed $ 900 billion in spending on the last aid package, they may not support the $ 463 billion increase – the Joint Taxation Committee’s cost estimate to increase checks to $ 2,000. – the price tag. However, several Republicans, such as Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia have signaled that they will support payments of $ 2,000. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Who asked for checks for $ 1,200 at the start of the negotiation process, can also vote for the increase to $ 2,000.
If it decides against voting on the bill, the Republican Party will have to challenge the man who controls the Republican Party: Trump. He has been pressing repeatedly for payments of $ 2,000 since he threatened to veto the bill last week.
He said he wanted higher direct payments, along with less foreign aid financing in the government’s $ 1.4 trillion government financing package approved in conjunction with the relief proposal. Trump gave in and signed the legislation on Sunday night, approving aid to the pandemic and preventing the government from closing.
In a tweet on Tuesday morning, the president asked “$ 2,000 for our great people, not $ 600!”
House votes on Monday show the Republican Party may have become more comfortable against Trump. Only 44 Republicans supported the $ 2,000 check legislation, while 130 Republican Party representatives voted against it. Republicans also joined Democrats in overturning Trump’s veto of the defense bill.
Sanders’ decision to keep the Senate in Washington for the week could also hurt Loeffler and Perdue, Georgia’s Republicans campaigning in the second round of January 5. If Democrats win both contests – in which they hammered Republican senators for their response to the coronavirus – they will lose control of the Senate.
The Democrats who participated in these contests, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, considered the Republican senators’ response to the coronavirus inadequate and pressured them to support $ 2,000 payments. In Fox News interviews on Tuesday, Loeffler and Perdue suggested that they would support larger checks.
“I stood by the president 100% of the time. I am proud to do that and I said for sure, we need to bring relief to the Americans now. And I will support that,” said Loeffler when asked if she would vote for the bill.
Later on Twitter, she fully endorsed the $ 2,000 payments.
Perdue told Fox that he is “delighted to support the president” in his effort to deposit $ 2,000.
Both had previously resisted efforts to send higher direct payments as part of the stimulus package.
The effort to increase the size of direct payments comes amid widespread concern about whether the rescue package has gone far enough to help Americans struggling to pay for housing and food. For months, Congress failed to renew the financial lifelines of the pandemic era, which expired during the summer, when millions began to fall into poverty.
Before agreeing to the $ 900 billion package, McConnell pushed for about $ 500 billion in new spending. Democrats, in turn, asked for at least $ 2.2 trillion in aid.
The compromise package that the parties finally reached includes direct payments of $ 600, half of which Congress passed in March as part of the CARES Act. It also adds a $ 300 federal unemployment insurance supplement, half of the improved payment that Congress passed in March. The $ 600 weekly supplement for unemployed Americans expired in July, after lawmakers did not renew it.
The new package includes $ 284 billion in forgiving loans from the Salary Protection Program. It also extends a federal eviction moratorium until January 31 and creates a $ 25 billion rental assistance fund.
The project places more than $ 8 billion in the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine and more than $ 20 billion in free delivery to Americans.
It also includes $ 82 billion in financing for education and $ 45 billion for transportation. It has left out any help for state and local governments struggling while the pandemic is dragging on.
– Hannah Miao from CNBC contributed to this report