Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday closed off chances that the Senate would pass anytime soon a House bill that would give most Americans $2,000 stimulus payments.
The Kentucky Republican said the House legislation, approved in a bipartisan vote Monday, “has no realistic path” to quick passage in the Senate and that it falls short of the demands of President Donald Trump. He again blocked an attempt by Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to adopt the House bill to increase the payments to $2,000 from the $600 by unanimous consent.
Brad Peterson is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Chicago office and leads the Technology Transactions practice. Brad has focused his practice for 20 years on helping companies work better with their technology and operations suppliers. In the past five years, he has represented clients in increasing numbers of contracts with digital services providers, including cloud, data analytics, “as a Service” and automated process scopes and cyber security and privacy issues related to those scopes.
Dan Masur is a leader of Mayer Brown’s Technology Transactions practice. Dan has represented national and international clients in a broad range of on-shore, near-shore, and offshore information technology and business process sourcing transactions involving global and niche outsourcing providers, offshore captives and various hybrid structures. His representative information technology transactions include the outsourcing of IT infrastructure services and support, data center services, application development and maintenance, network management and support, help desk/call center services, and telecommunications services. Dan has represented established and emerging companies in many different industries, including insurance, banking, aerospace, defense contracting, electronic commerce, financial services, pharmaceuticals, and more.
Tom Saine is CIO and CISO at Spok, a role he’s held since 2008. Saine provides executive leadership for the company’s Information Technology and Wireless Messaging Network teams.
The Senate instead will work on combining the stimulus payments with measures on election integrity and rolling back social media liability protections, he said. That responds to all three issues Trump has said he wants, but a bill combining them likely will alienate enough senators in both parties to leave prospects for bigger stimulus payments dead in the Senate.
“The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of the Democrats’ rich friends who don’t need the help,” McConnell said. The House bill would raise the income cutoff to receive a payment.
The clash over the payments also is entangling another piece of year-end business in the Senate — a vote to override Trump’s veto of a crucial $740.5 billion defense policy bill. Senators Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey said they will continue to delay the defense legislation vote unless McConnell relents and allows a vote on a standalone bill on the bigger stimulus checks.
“We are saying to Mitch McConnell, to allow the United States Senate to do what it’s supposed to do, and that is the vote,” Sanders told reporters. “The House passed the bill, it’s over here right now. Do you want to vote against it? Then vote against it.”
Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey later blocked an attempt by Sanders to call up the House bill for a roll call vote.