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.
Kevin Kelly is senior finance counsel at Simon Property Group.
Catherine Dahl is the CEO of Beanworks, an accounts payable automation platform.
Kevin Kelly is a Security Expert with the Fraud Prevention Division of Kaspersky Lab.� Utilizing Kaspersky Lab’s cutting-edge research into mobile security threats and Kevin’s experience of more than two decades in banking, he helps organizations fit new layers of security into existing framework to maximize ROI while taking advantage of new technology changes.�Prior to Kaspersky Lab, Kevin worked for several global banks as well as other respected vendors in the Banking IT Security market.� He holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Buffalo and currently resides in New Jersey.
“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.

