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
Raphael Bostic is the 15th president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Raphael Bostic is the 15th president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

washburn-lisa-357.jpg

Ms. Washburn is a Managing Director at Municipal Market Analytics (MMA), an independent research and consulting group that publishes commentary on the US municipal bond market. Prior to MMA, Lisa was a managing director at Moody’s Investors Service where she managed several ratings teams and led various high profile projects, including the agency’s first municipal default study and the 2010 municipal rating recalibration.� Lisa is currently serving as the 2016 Chair of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA) and has been on the Board of Governors and led many of the organization’s committees since 2008.�� She is also a member of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York (MAGNY).� She has an undergraduate degree in finance from Lehigh University and holds the designation of Certified Management Accountant.��

Nicole Byrd is Chair of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts

“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.