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.
Kimberlee Cornett is the director of impact investments at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Byron Storms has served as president and CEO of Aspire General Insurance Services and Aspire General Insurance Company since August 2015. Prior to joining Aspire General Insurance, he was the president of property & casualty at National General Management Corp from 2012 to 2015. From 2007 to 2012, Storms was president and CEO of ClearSide General Insurance Services, LLC, which was acquired in November 2011 by National General. Storms has a proven track record of assembling strong teams, integrating and implementing technology solutions that create core operational strength, and supporting effective growth.
Evan Croen is head of Bloomberg Tax & Accounting.
“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.