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.
Dr. Selma Hepp is the chief economist at Cotality.
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President and CEO Jill Castilla led a 180-degree turnaround at Citizens Bank of Edmond through her approach to Fintech and social media. She changed the story of the Bank from one of near collapse and failure to one of great success and innovation. Jill has told the story of the turnaround at conferences nationwide and to 5,000+ people in various industries. Jill broke virtual radio silence through the power of social media by leading the bank from having no audience to more than 30,000 followers who engage with the Bank through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Jill was named “Most Admired CEOs in Oklahoma"; “Most Innovative CEOs in Banking”; "Community Banker of the Year"; and "Most Powerful Women in Banking" in 2015. She ranks #1 on ICBA’s list of Twitter influencers. Citizens’ community appreciation event implemented by Jill, “Heard on Hurd,” had more than 100,000 attendees in 2015 and generated more than $2.4 million in economic activity. Jill previously served in the U.S. Army and Oklahoma Army National Guard as a construction and civil engineer. Prior to joining Citizens Bank, she was at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and with a community bank in Minnesota. Her academic background includes a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Oklahoma and she is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Graduate School of Banking. Jill is a distinguished alumna of Hawaii Pacific University.
“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.