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.
Tom Hutton is managing partner for XL Innovate, the venture capital arm of XL Catlin. After working as a Consultant at McKinsey and Company, Tom served for ten years as the first CEO of Risk Management Solutions, a pioneer and global leader in providing risk modeling software, data and analytic services related to catastrophic risks to the insurance industry. His insurance career continued as CEO of White Mountains Re and board director of several insurance and reinsurance companies including XL Group, Safeco, Montpelier Re, Centre Cat, and Palomar Specialty.
In 2011, Tom founded New Energy Risk in partnership with XL Group. Tom served as CEO until the founding of XL Innovate in 2015, and currently serves as chairman. New Energy Risk addresses opportunities to apply insurance to support the development and financing of clean technology and renewable energy solutions and infrastructure, through an innovative form of insured technology performance.
Tom currently serves as a board director at several private and venture-backed companies including SoFi, a leading fintech company redefining consumer lending and financial services; Lemonade, a revolutionary personal lines insurance carrier; and Slice Labs, a provider of on-demand insurance in the sharing economy. Tom’s investments at XL Innovate also include Embroker, a tech driven commercial distribution company that is radically improving how mid-sized businesses buy and manage insurance coverage. Tom earned his BA in Economics and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and his MBA from Harvard Business School. Tom is involved in several non-profit organizations with an emphasis on secondary school education and environmental issues. He recently served for several years as the President of Trustees at Phillips Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire.
Jim Brandenburg, CPA, MST, is a tax partner at Sikich LLP, a professional services firm. Jim has more than 35 years of experience and knowledge in corporate and partnership tax law, mergers and acquisitions, and tax legislation. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in taxation from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Mary Chaput is an expert on compliance with PHI privacy and security regulations and Chief Financial Officer of Clearwater Compliance.
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.