Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown said on Tuesday he would push for a $ 2,000 Senate vote on stimulus checks by joining Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont’s obstruction in the Senate floor.
Sanders called for a Senate vote to increase direct payments from $ 600 to $ 2,000 on Tuesday, a motion that won an immediate objection from Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. When McConnell called for a vote on overturning President Donald Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2021, Sanders voiced his objection. Sanders’ obstruction could keep the Senate in session until January 1, occupying parts of the scheduled Senate holiday break. On Tuesday, Brown indicated that he would join Sanders to ensure that the vote on direct payments took place.
“I’m going to join Senator Sanders,” Brown told Mehdi Hasan of MSNBC on Tuesday. “I mean, I’m in Cleveland now. I’m going to drive to Washington tomorrow just after noon and join Senator Sanders. I’ll be on the floor, make sure there is a vote.”
Newsweek contacted Sanders’ office for comment.
Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey is also expected to participate in Sanders’ obstruction. “We should take a vote,” Markey said in comments to the plenary on Tuesday. “It must be yes or no and we must do that before the end of this year.”
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Trump supports the provision of $ 2,000 in direct payments, however, the legislation he signed on Sunday provided for only $ 600. The president said he would send the bill back to Congress with certain items “marked in red” that he asked the legislators to amend. Meanwhile, Trump vetoed the NDAA 2021 which detailed all U.S. defense-related spending.
“Unfortunately,” Trump wrote in a letter to the House in December, “the law does not include critical security measures, includes provisions that do not respect our veterans and our military history, and contradicts my administration’s efforts to put the United States first. in our country security and foreign policy actions. “
The House voted to overturn Trump’s NDAA veto on Monday by a vote from 322 to 87. McConnell tried to get the Senate to vote on the annulment of the presidential veto when Sanders voiced his objection.
With the NDAA vote in limbo and the vote for McConnell’s $ 2,000 direct payments blocked, Sanders tweeted on Tuesday that he and Markey were ready to keep senators in Washington until a vote on stimulus checks is conducted.
“Today @SenMarkey and I demanded a $ 2,000 vote for workers,” Sanders tweeted on Tuesday. “It’s simple – no vote, no New Year’s break for senators.”
Today @SenMarkey and demanded a vote of $ 2,000 for workers. It’s simple – no vote, no New Year’s break for senators.
– Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 29, 2020
McConnell proposed legislation on Tuesday that would allow stimulus checks to increase to $ 2,000. However, McConnell connected the direct payments to Trump’s requests that Democrats denounced. McConnell’s bill includes repealing Section 230, part of the Communications Decency Act, which protects social media platforms from liability for content posted by third parties.
McConnell’s proposal also requires the formation of a bipartisan “advisory committee” to “study the integrity and administration of the general election for the federal office held in November 2020.” Trump has repeatedly stated that widespread electoral fraud has caused his defeat for President-elect Joe Biden and has filed lawsuits in undecided states in an attempt to overturn the election results. These legal attempts largely failed and many described Trump’s claims as unfounded.