No! on dough
Mitch won’t let $2G stimulus plan come to vote in Senate
The Senate logjam over raising coronavirus stimulus checks to $2,000 showed no signs of breaking Thursday as Republicans again rejected Democratic demands for a vote on the issue.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pronounced the effort to more than triple the direct payments to American taxpayers a nonstarter even as President Trump jetted back to Washington from Florida.
Framing a new attack on the $2,000 checks, McConnell claimed the raise, which Trump strongly supports, would amount to a windfall for wealthy liberals.
“Socialism for the rich is a terrible way to help those Americans who actually need the help,” McConnell said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) countered that Americans facing eviction and trying to pay their bills are the ones who are banking on the increased stimulus that the House of Representatives passed by a 2-1 margin.
“There is one way, and only one way, to pass $2,000 checks before the end of the year. And that’s to pass the House bill,” Schumer said.
Democrats believe if McConnell relents, they could amass the 60 votes needed to pass it.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a strong ally of both Trump and McConnell, said Thursday that a standalone vote on the bigger checks “might pass” if McConnell allows one.
“I’m with the president on this,” Graham told Fox News.
The deadlock stretched on as Trump left leaders on both sides of the aisle guessing about his next move.
Trump flew back to the White House on Thursday and stayed uncharacteristically quiet on Twitter as he and First Lady Melania Trump abandoned his resort in Palm Beach on New Years Eve after a week of golf.
Trump has spent more than a week demanding that lawmakers increase the amount of the checks from the original $600. He derided the smaller amount “a disgrace,” even though his own negotiators agreed to the figure in a $908 billion compromise spending package.
After resisting for days, the president relented and signed the relief package. But he quickly pivoted to demanding a new measure to increase the amount of the checks.
The House quickly passed a bill for $2,000 direct payments and pushed for its enactment in the Senate.
McConnell rejected that move, claiming that the stimulus payments would have to be passed in a package with two unrelated Trump demands: a commission to probe his unfounded claims of voter fraud and repealing liability protections for social-media companies.
Schumer urged Republicans to allow votes on the other proposals separately from the $2,000 checks measure, but McConnell ignored that proposal.
The Senate is still in session through New Year’s Day as it prepares to vote to override Trump’s veto of a defense spending bill. That leaves open the possibility of more presidential pressure as the world says goodbye to 2020 or in the first hours of 2021.
All congressional business must be finished by Sunday when Congress officially ends its term.