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.
Ran Harpaz is founder and CEO of Lettuce Financial, an AI-powered operating system built for solopreneurs.
Whitney Stidom is vice president of employer enablement at eHealth, a leading online health insurance marketplace that helps consumers confidently navigate their health benefit decisions.
Kim Johnson is the Senior Vice President of Customer at Hi Marley, where she leads the company's customer strategy and ensures that the carrier voice is embedded into the company's product and service offerings. With over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry, Kim has a proven track record in customer experience (CX) strategy, technology, and driving large-scale transformation initiatives. Prior to joining Hi Marley, Kim held senior leadership roles at Liberty Mutual Insurance, where she led CX strategy and managed software product development for servicing and claims. She also spent significant time at Allstate Insurance, working across Technology, Human Resources, and Claims. Kim began her career at Accenture, specializing in change management and consulting for financial services.
“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.