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.
David R. Jarczyk is a Principal in KPMG LLP’s Tax Innovation group and the firm’s Tax Blockchain Leader. Previously, he was a founder and CEO of a successful intellectual property technology company for 10 years, and was founder and head of client services for an economics and valuation firm for the prior 5 years. Jarczyk’s specialty has been bridging the gap between technology/big data and business cases/user needs. In his roles, David has served multinational corporations, global consulting companies, global law firms, and various government sectors. He is experienced in determining market needs, translating those needs into technological requirements, creating unique data and analytics offerings, and developing go-to-market strategies. Throughout his career, David has been an advocate for small businesses, providing coaching, lectures, and advisory services to entrepreneurs in need. Additionally, David has extensively lectured and published in the areas of economics, finance, law, and intellectual property.
Michael Oppenheim, MD, is as vice president and Chief Medical Information Officer for Northwell Health. His responsibilities include working closely with the health system’s senior clinical leadership to ensure alignment with clinical and strategic priorities.
Aaron Schaben is executive vice president of Carson Wealth.
“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.

