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.
Dan Schuleman is the co-founder and CEO of Qumis, a lawyer-built, AI-powered insurtech transforming how insurance professionals read and interpret policies. Before founding Qumis, Dan was Associate General Counsel at Kin Insurance, where he helped scale the company and navigate complex regulatory environments. He previously practiced insurance coverage law at Am Law 200 firms, advising insurers and policyholders on high-stakes commercial claims. Dan holds a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and a B.A. with honors from Northwestern University.
Kelly Welch is an Executive Strategy & Compliance Advisor with Equity Resources, a Newark, Ohio-based mortgage lender, which is a member of the Community Home Lenders of America.
Paul Mattox is a CPA and owner of the firm W. Paul Mattox, CPA, based in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“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.