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.
Christopher Strand leads Carbon Black’s global security risk and compliance program strategy. With more than 20 years of information technology and security assessment experience, Chris oversees the development of enterprise platforms that help organizations deploy proactive security and compliance solutions. Throughout his career he has concentrated on refining a framework that bridges the gap between security policy and cyber-regulatory requirements, while helping to maintain, measure, and improve enterprise risk posture. Previously, Strand held security/compliance positions at Trustwave, Tripwire, EMC/RSA, and Compuware.
Angel Bennett is the assistant vice president of paid leave at Unum, a leading employee benefits and leave services provider.
Kevin Fromer is president and CEO of the Financial Services Forum, which represents the eight largest, most diversified U.S. banking institutions. Previously, Fromer was the executive vice president and head of public affairs for HSBC North America Holdings, where he was responsible for public policy and government affairs at the federal and state levels. Fromer spent over two decades in U.S. federal government, including as assistant secretary of the Treasury for legislative affairs from 2005-2009.
“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.