House Republicans blocked Democrats’ attempt to meet President Donald Trump’s demand to pay most Americans $2,000 to help weather the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans objected to the bill House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer sought to pass by unanimous consent Thursday to replace the $600 payments in the latest pandemic relief legislation with the $2,000 payments.
Charles Lee, MD, has been a leading national advocate for simplifying and making medical information more understandable for patients. He is senior advisor on health literacy and language barriers at First Databank. In 2001 he started Polyglot Systems with a mission to develop practical, affordable multi-language technology solutions to improve healthcare access and reduce disparities for underserved and limited English proficient patient populations.
Mitch Doust is Executive Vice President and Head of the Americas for CoverGenius, where he is responsible for the establishment and growth of the XCover platform and the broader Cover Genius business across North America, Canada and Latin America. Mitch recently joined Cover Genius from leading insurtech company Trov (www.trov.com), where he was Global Head of Business Development and led the establishment of Trov's global network of insurance partnerships. Prior to his move into technology, Mitch began his career with EY in Australia before moving to the Suncorp Group (one of Australia’s leading insurers) where he held a number of strategic roles including P&C strategy, venture investing and strategic innovation. Mitch also serves as an independent advisor at Anthemis Group
“House and Senate Democrats have repeatedly fought for bigger checks for the American people, which House and Senate Republicans have repeatedly rejected — first, during our negotiations when they said that they would not go above $600 and now, with this act of callousness on the Floor,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Thursday.
Democrats will try again with a roll call vote on a new bill Dec. 28, when the House also plans a vote to override Trump’s veto on the National Defense Authorization Act. Since current government spending runs out that day — and funds for the rest of the fiscal year are included in the virus relief bill Trump criticized and hasn’t signed -- the House could also pass another stopgap measure to avert a partial government shutdown.
Republicans on Thursday tried to seek unanimous consent on a measure to examine taxpayer money spent on foreign aid, but Democrats blocked that move. In his complaint Tuesday about Congress’s combined virus aid and government spending bill, Trump criticized federal resources spent on international programs, even though that spending was allocated as part of the bipartisan appropriations process.