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
Ereli-Michael-Proactis-opinion-PSO .jpg

Michael Ereli is U.S. Managing Director at Proactis.

Cerami-Mike-CPAcom

Michael Cerami is vice president of strategic alliances and business development at CPA.com.

Dr. Arindam Samanta leads property underwriting product management efforts in the areas of weather and natural hazards, including FireLine, Verisk’s wildfire risk management tool for the insurance industry, and a range of other property risk assessment tools related to hail, wind, and lightning. Additionally, he supports ISO’s personal lines product innovation pipeline and agenda.

Dr. Samanta did his academic and research work at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Caltech, and Boston University. National and international news media—including the BBC, as well as Nature and Science magazines—have highlighted his research. He has contributed to articles and been quoted by trade journals such as Insurance Journal, Business Insurance, CLM Magazine,PropertyCasualty360,Risk & Insurance, and Canadian Underwriter. He has also received Verisk’s highest award: the Verisk Citizenship Award.

“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.

capitol-runner.jpg
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.