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.
Traci Rutter, EA, MBA, is a tax supervisor, with Urish Popeck & Co. She has over 20 years of tax consulting and advisory experience. She serves clients in a variety of industries, but is primarily focused on higher education, professional services and technology. Her client service responsibilities are focused on providing tax structuring and consulting services to large, consolidated public or multistate C corporations, S corporations and partnerships. Prior to joining Urish Popeck, she worked with other regional accounting firms.
Given the size and number of tax changes proposed by the Biden administration, it’s no wonder advisors face challenges in helping clients prepare for the year ahead.
George White is the executive vice president at Custodia Financial.
“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.