Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked an attempt by Democrats to force quick action increasing direct stimulus payments to $2,000 as President Donald Trump warned that failing to act now amounted to a “death wish” by Republicans.
McConnell objected to a motion by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to approve by unanimous consent a stimulus-checks bill that passed the House on Monday. He also blocked a motion by Senator Bernie Sanders to vote on the stimulus checks immediately after the Senate votes on overriding Trump’s veto of a key defense policy bill.
Floor requests to immediately pass legislation are frequently criticized as stunts, but this episode highlights how unlikely it is that the Senate will pass a bill increasing the payments before Congress adjourns Sunday.
McConnell said the Senate will consider higher stimulus checks in conjunction with two other Trump complaints unrelated to the pandemic relief bill he signed into law: an investigation into alleged election fraud and reworking a law that shields technology companies from liability for user content.
“This week the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus,” McConnell said, without explaining when or if a vote will happen.
But Trump wasn’t satisfied. In a tweet Tuesday afternoon, Trump said the GOP should pass the bigger stimulus payments “ASAP.” He also said they should deal with his other demands on the election and tech companies.
Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2000 payments ASAP. $600 IS NOT ENOUGH! Also, get rid of Section 230 - Don’t let Big Tech steal our Country, and don’t let the Democrats steal the Presidential Election. Get tough! https://t.co/GMotstu7OI
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2020
Despite the push by Trump, spending $464 billion on higher stimulus checks has divided Republicans, some of whom are increasingly focused on the burgeoning national debt. Only 44 Republicans joined 231 Democrats on Monday to pass a bill increasing the payments to $2,000. In the Senate, just a handful of Republicans are now publicly on board, including Florida’s Marco Rubio and Missouri’s Josh Hawley.
Armed Service Chairman Jim Inhofe said he would likely vote against $2,000 checks because of deficit concerns.
“I’d have a hard time supporting that,” he said. “It’s such a huge number.”
Political impact
The GOP tension comes at a crucial time for Republicans who are fighting to maintain control of the Senate in a pair of Georgia runoff elections on Jan. 5. On Tuesday, both GOP incumbents in those races, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, also came out in favor of the $2,000 checks.
McConnell has several options to tackle the direct-payment conundrum Trump put him in. With the Schumer attempt blocked, McConnell could point out that there is no agreement to process the House bill on the floor by the time the current session of Congress ends on Jan. 3.
That approach could risk a backlash from Trump and his supporters, however. McConnell also could promise to work on the matter in the next Congress that starts next week.
Ron Schneider is director, corporate governance services for Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN). He is responsible for providing thought leadership on emerging corporate governance, proxy, sustainability and other disclosure issues. During his career, he has managed more than 1,600 proxy solicitations, 200 tender or exchange offers, and 30 proxy contests, with his proxy fight clients succeeding in over 70% of such situations. His prior experience includes three years at investor relations agency The Financial Relations Board, three years at AST Phoenix Advisors, and nine years at BNY Mellon. Earlier in his career, he held increasingly senior positions at major proxy solicitation firms Morrow & Co., D.F. King, and Georgeson & Co., where he served on its first board of directors.
Jason brings over 20 years of health care industry experience, with a track record of building successful organizations and delivering innovation. Prior to Sidecar Health, Jason had various executive roles at Centene Corporation, which covers 25 million Americans. Jason graduated from Washington University Olin School of Business with concentrations in Finance, Accounting, and German. He enjoys travel with his family and is working to lower his golf handicap and improve his offshore fishing knowledge.
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Kicking the can down the road leaves McConnell with another problem, with Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, saying he will delay any attempt to override Trump’s veto of a separate defense bill this week unless there is a vote on stimulus checks.
Another option would be for McConnell to present his own bill, combining higher stimulus checks with the two other issues that Trump wants addressed.
But combining those elements into a package would poison a stimulus-checks bill for many Democrats. It would likely fail if brought to a vote.
Sanders said he didn’t know what McConnell has in mind but the majority leader shouldn’t complicate a bill by adding Trump’s other demands.
“The House passed, to their credit, a simple straightforward bill,” Sanders said in a brief interview Tuesday. “Let’s not muddy the waters. Are you for $2,000 or not? Let’s not talk about so-called voter fraud or abortion or anything else.”
Sanders’s demand for a vote on higher stimulus payments led him to block a separate Senate effort on Wednesday to unanimously override Trump’s veto of this year’s defense policy bill. That veto override, which was approved by the House Monday, will go through the full Senate process to get a vote before Sunday.
Democratic opening
Democrats, for their part, are relishing the political turmoil for the GOP and hoping it will give them a chance to flip the Senate to help enact President-elect Joe Biden’s far-reaching agenda.
“The House and the President are in agreement: we must deliver $2,000 checks to American families struggling this Holiday Season,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a tweet, calling on the Senate to pass the higher payments.
Although Biden on Monday said he supports the $2,000 payments, it is unclear if he will prioritize them in his stimulus proposal to Congress after the Jan. 20 inauguration if Congress fails to pass them before then.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates that the bigger payments would raise disposable income in the first quarter to as much as 25 percent above pre-pandemic levels. The legislation would produce an additional 1.5 percent in GDP output, but not all of the growth would occur in 2021, according to Marc Goldwein, an economist who co-authored the CRFB projections.
But many Republicans had opposed stimulus payments larger than the $600 in the existing law, in part over concerns about the price tag. Bumping the payments to $2,000 would cost roughly $463.8 billion, according to estimates by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.