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.
Mark Gervase, director of product marketing for Bill.com, works with accountants and firms to grow their businesses and achieve efficiencies through automation and cloud technologies. He is a former CPA, has a background in financial technology, and holds an MBA and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Randy A. Fox, CFP, AEP, is the founder of Two Hawks Consulting LLC. He is a nationally known wealth strategist, philanthropic estate planner, educator and speaker. He is currently the editor-in-chief of "Planned Giving Design Center," a national newsletter and website for philanthropic advisors. He is a past winner of the Fithian Leadership Award by the International Association of Advisors in Philanthropy. Reach him at randyafox1@gmail.com
Shari Dodgen is the Director of Strategic Relationships and Product Marketing for Mid/large firms at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting North America. She is responsible for defining the overall product marketing strategy for the company’s award-winning professional software products, as well as building and expanding strategic relationships with professional associations and accounting organizations to drive increased value to individual firms.
In addition to her 12 years as publisher of Cygnus Business Media’s CPA Technology Advisor, Shari has extensive experience developing integrated custom media programs and expertise in business-to-business communications, including strategic planning, partnership development, program execution, marketing and sales.
“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.