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.
Madhura Chakrabarti leads the People Analytics and Employee Engagement research practices at Bersin by Deloitte. Previous to joining Bersin by Deloitte, Madhura worked for Dell Technologies, where she led the annual global engagement survey for 110,000 employees; culture assessments for mergers and acquisitions; and several people analytics studies. Subsequently, she also served as the Organizational Development (OD) Strategist for Global Operations and Client Solutions, the largest business unit where she led and supported multiple talent management initiatives for the business. Prior to Dell, Madhura worked for Ford Motor Company and Aon Hewitt where her work focused on design and statistical validation of pre-employment assessments used for hiring.
Jonathan Drew is associate director of legal services at Seal Software. Jonathan has spent the bulk of his career working with technology-focused startups, helping companies develop marketing and product strategies to support new product introductions and entry into new markets. At Seal, Jonathan supports Seal’s efforts in risk and regulation, exploring the various ways Seal’s platform can be leveraged to solve business and regulatory challenges.
Mike Galarza is the CEO and founder of Entryless, a bill pay automation solution.
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.