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.
René Lacerte is the CEO and founder of Bill.com. Prior to launching Bill.com in 2006, he co-founded online payroll service provider PayCycle in 1999, which was acquired by Intuit in 2009. Lacerte also spent five years at Intuit, creating and managing the company's bill presentment team and growing its bill payment and credit card offerings into multi-million dollar businesses for the company. He also launched Intuit's first connected payroll product, growing the team from two employees to 300 in 18 months.
Michael Parrinello is a partner and practice leader of Bonadio Advisory at The Bonadio Group. As the leader of the firm’s Bonadio Advisory Practice, which offers strategic consulting services from analysis to execution, driving profitability, increasing efficiencies, mitigating risk and improving operations, he works closely with clients to evaluate opportunities and achieve their strategic goals by delivering value-added solutions.
Brad Bolton is president and CEO of Community Spirit Bank in Red Bay, Alabama, and chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America.
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.