DARING PREZENT
Pelosi pushes GOP to OK Don’s 2G
Congressional Democrats on Wednesday dangled the empty promise of a Christmas miracle for struggling Americans by embracing President Trump’s call to boost COVID-19 relief checks to $2,000 per person.
In a political game of one-upmanship with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump should pressure his fellow Republicans into more than tripling the size of payments now set at $600.
Pelosi said the move could be achieved through “unanimous consent” — a method of expediting congressional proceedings that’s contingent on no lawmakers objecting.
“Mr. President, sign the bill to keep government open! Urge McConnell and McCarthy to agree with the Democratic unanimous consent request for $2,000 direct payments!” Pelosi tweeted.
“This can be done by noon on Christmas Eve!”
Pelosi’s last-minute proposal to amend a pending $2.3 trillion package of pandemic-related stimulus and government funding came the same day the Labor Department said 803,000 more Americans filed firsttime unemployment claims last week.
But McCarthy told House Republicans on a Wednesday call that Pelosi won’t succeed in her bid for unanimous consent for the $2,000 checks while most legislators aren’t in DC on Thursday.
It’s unclear which Republican would object to Pelosi’s request for unanimous consent.
In March, a sole Republican, libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, forced lawmakers to return to DC in person to vote for the more than $2 trillion CARES Act, saying such bills should not pass by unanimous consent.
An estimated 12 million people will lose unemployment benefits on Saturday if Trump does not sign the package, which overwhelmingly passed the House and Senate this week.
Trump called the bipartisan relief bill a “disgrace” on Tuesday night and told lawmakers to amend the bill and “increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple,” while suggesting he would torpedo it if the changes weren’t made.
Pelosi immediately responded on Twitter: “Let’s do it!”
The coronavirus relief bill, the subject of months of negotiations between party leaders and the White House, was packaged together with a $1.4 trillion measure to keep the government open until next September.
The deadline to avert a government shutdown is Dec. 29.
The sprawling, 5,585-page relief bill is still being prepared by Congress and won’t likely make it to the president’s desk until Thursday or Friday. Trump left the White House on Wednesday to spend Christmas at his Mar-a-Lago Florida resort.
Left-wing leaders cheered Trump’s remarks and said they were ready to get to work on the effort.
“That’s great! I first introduced a bill to provide a $2,000 direct payment with @SenKamalaHarris & @EdMarkey 7 months ago,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted. “Let’s do it.”