GOP blocks Democrats’ bid for $2K payments Trump demanded

House Republicans blocked Democrats’ attempt to meet President Donald Trump’s demand to pay most Americans $2,000 to help weather the coronavirus pandemic.

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.

CORONAVIRUS IMPACT: ADDITIONAL COVERAGE

Karen Clarke is Managing Director of the Americas for Anaplan where she leads and sustains business growth for the company's largest market, including Canada and South America. Karen has been a valued member of the Anaplan leadership team since 2017, previously serving as Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to building Anaplan's business in APAC, Karen led the company's Northern European business and held senior roles at Oracle across EMEA.

Jay Moore, M.D., is the chief clinical officer ofPaytient, a company focused on helping people better access and afford care. Paytient works with employers, partners, brokers, and health systems to provide a healthier way to pay for out-of-pocket care expenses.

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Gina Witherington is a director in the accounting & reporting advisory group at Stout. She has over 15 years of experience in accounting and financial leadership roles, including areas of technical accounting and financial reporting.

“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.

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A runner stands near the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Oliver Contreras/Bloomberg

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.