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
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Mark McElroy is EVP and head of TransUnion's insurance business, leveraging advanced analytics and modeling to help the industry underwrite more effectively, target qualified prospects, improve acquisition and retention efforts, and identify and prevent fraudulent activity. He also contributes to the expansion of the practice through tactical development and implementation of insurance solutions in regions across the globe. Prior to joining TransUnion in 2012, McElroy was CEO and president of Balboa Insurance Group, a Bank of America company. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

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Michael Cohn
January 14, 2021 10:54 AM

The U.S. Small Business Administration plans to reopen the Paycheck Protection Program to small lenders on Friday and to all lenders next Tuesday.

4 Min Read
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Jessica Leung is vice president of operations at Acqra Limited.

“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.