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.
Kevin Sweeney is a former federal tax prosecutor. He is currently a shareholder in the Philadelphia Office of Chamberlain Hrdlicka, where he focuses on IRS audits, civil and criminal tax litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and corporate investigations. He may be reached at ksweeney@chamberlainlaw.com.
John Kirbo is a senior counsel in Chamberlain Hrdlicka's tax controversy practice in Atlanta. He has a background in business transactions, as well as both civil litigation and criminal defense, primarily in federal district court. He is skilled at solving complex problems for clients through litigation or other more creative means. He may be reached at john.kirbo@chamberlainlaw.com.
Tom Cullinan is a shareholder in Chamberlain Hrdlicka's Atlanta office. He works in the firm's tax controversy group, focusing on tax, tax controversy and litigation. Before joining the firm, he worked at the IRS, serving as the counselor to the IRS commissioner and then as the acting IRS chief of staff. As relevant here, while at IRS he co-led the creation of the Office of Promoter Investigation. He may be reached at tom.cullinan@chamberlainlaw.com.
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.