Mcconnell: Push for $2K stimulus checks has ‘no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate’
WASHINGTON » Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY., said that a proposal from Democrats to approve $2,000 stimulus checks has “no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate,” ef fectively killing one of Presi - dent Donald Trump’s top priorities in the final days of his presidency.
Mcconnell said Republicans would not be “bullied” into passing the bill quickly despite intensifying pressure from Democrats and Trump, citing a belief that the proposal would greatly inflate the U. S. debt and benefit some families who are not in need of financial assistance.
In doing so, Mcconnell pledged he would not sever the one-time checks from a broader package that the leader said he would try to advance - one that includes an effort to study the 2020 presidential election for fraud and terminate legal protections for tech giants. Democrats vehemently oppose both additions, believing they are deliberate poison pills meant to scuttle any hope of a deal.
“The Senate is not going to split apart the three issues Trump linked together just because Democrats are afraid to address two of them,” Mcconnell said.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Mcconnell’s proposal had no chance of passing and that this was the Republican’s way of killing the $2,000 check measure once and for all.
He said Republicans should allow all the senators to vote on a measure that passed the House of Representatives earlier in the week that would have authorized the $2,000 payments, something Trump has demanded since last week.
“At the very least, the Senate deserves the opportunity for an up- or- down vote,” Schumer said.
With the process unraveling in the Senate, Democratic leaders on Wednesday still urged Republicans to try to move quickly, arguing that a weakening economy and raging pandemic are creating enormous hardship for millions of Americans.
Schumer then tried for a second time this week to move the House’s proposal, again triggering Mcconnell’s objection.
Incensed, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., then took the floor, blasting Mcconnell for ignoring the needs of his poorest constituents in opposing the additional aid.
“All we are asking for is a vote. What is the problem?” Sanders said before making his own ill-fated attempt to hold a vote Thursday, to which Republicans objected. “If you want to vote against two thousand dollar checks for your state, vote against it”