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.
Dan Iskra an assistant vice president in Group Benefits at MetLife, responsible for the development and management of disability and absence management products. Dan joined MetLife in 2007 and has held various roles within the company primarily supporting the product development and finance organizations. During his tenure with MetLife, Dan has been instrumental in driving key strategies impacting the company’s growth in the disability and absence market.
Operation HOPE Chief Executive John Hope Bryant talks about how the Community Reinvestment Act influenced him at the age of 9 and eventually led to the founding of his nonprofit, which works with banks to help communities in need. But he says the 1977 law is outdated.
John Hope Bryant is founder, chairman and chief executive of Operation HOPE Inc., the largest nonprofit dedicated to providing financial literacy, financial inclusion and economic empowerment tools and services for youth and adults. He is the author of "Up From Nothing: The Untold Story of How We (All) Succeed."
Bryant is also chairman and CEO of Bryant Group Ventures and the Promise Homes Company, the largest minority-controlled owners of institutional-quality, single-family residential rental homes in the U.S. Bryant is an American entrepreneur, author, philanthropist and prominent thought leader on financial inclusion, economic empowerment and financial dignity.
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.