$2,000 checks likely will not be in the mail
WASHINGTON — Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., said a proposal from Democrats to approve $2,000 stimulus checks has “no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate,” effectively killing one of President Donald Trump’s top priorities in the final days of his administration.
“The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats’ rich friends who don’t need the help,” Mcconnell said on the Senate floor.
The GOP leader’s hard line followed a day after Trump said it would be a “death wish” for his own party if it didn’t approve additional aid with so many families hurting because of coronavirus-related job cuts.
The move threatened to carry broad political repercussions, potentially casting a shadow over Mcconnell’s GOP majori
ty — and the fate of two of his members as they run in special elections in Georgia.
The two lawmakers, Sens. David Perdue andkelly Loeffler, had joined a growing roster of party members who had expressed a newfound openness to bigger stimulus benefits in recent days.
Mcconnell said he opposed the House-passed measure out of a belief it would greatly inflate the U.S. debt and benefit some families that don’t need financial assistance.
Some of the people whowould qualify for the payments belong to households earning up to $300,000, he said.
Mcconnell instead pledged he wouldn’t sever the one-time checks from a broader package he unveiled earlier this week, which includes an effort to study the 2020 presidential election for fraud and to terminate legal protections for tech giants.
Trump has sought to couple the issues together as part of his continued assault against Silicon Valley and President-elect Joe Biden.
Democrats vehemently oppose both additions, believing they’re poison pills meant to scuttle any hope of a deal.
Even some Republican lawmakers have questioned the wisdom of marrying these provisions into a single bill. But Mcconnell held firm Wednesday that they would be considered together.
“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.
With the process unraveling in the Senate, Democratic leaders Wednesday still urged Republicans to try to move quickly on another round of stimulus support, arguing a weakening economy and raging pandemic are creating enormous hardship for millions of Americans.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Mcconnell’s counterproposal had no chance of passing, meaning his ultimatum essentially was Republicans’ way of killing the $2,000 checks once and for all.
Schumer said Republicans should allow all senators to vote on a measure that passed the House of Representatives earlier in the week that enhances the $600 benefits authorized by Congress as part of the earlier, $900 billion coronavirus relief package, which Trump recently signed.
“At the very least, the Senate deserves the opportunity for an up or down vote,” Schumer said.
Schumer then tried for a second time this week to move the House’s check proposal, again triggering Mcconnell’s objection.
Incensed, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., 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, with Republicans objecting. “If you want to vote against $2,000 checks for your state, vote against it.”
As Sanders spoke, he stood in front of a large poster-sized version of one of Trump’s tweets from earlier Wednesday, which read “$2000 ASAP!”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-calif., blasted Mcconnell for blocking his chamber from taking up and passing a House bill, known as the CASH Act, which would have boosted the stimulus checks to $2,000.
“In blocking it, they are in denial of the hardship the American people are experiencing now, healthwise, financially and every way,” Pelosi said at a news conference.
The standoff likely kills any prospect for a last-minute deal around additional stimulus aid. Only four days remain on the legislative calendar before the House and Senate must adjourn.