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.
The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have reversed course on requiring senior citizens to file a “simple tax return” in order to receive a stimulus payment as part of the coronavirus package passed by Congress last week.
Brad Finkelstein is the originations editor of National Mortgage News. While he covers the entire process, Brad's specialty is loan production and its associated parts from lead development through secondary marketing.
Brad joined National Mortgage News in 1990 after working on the North Hempstead/Northeast Queens desk for This Week publications on Long Island and then as associate editor of the Airport Press, covering both passenger and cargo stations at the New York area airports. While part of the NMN family, Brad was the editor of its wholesale publications Broker Magazine and Origination News, and in those roles and now in his current role, coordinates the annual Top Producers survey. Brad is a past president of the New York Financial Writers Association.
- Awards — Among the awards he has won was as regional finalist for the Azbees in 2021 for Online - Online Breaking News Coverage for work in stories on the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the mortgage industry along with Paul Centopani and Bonnie Sinnock. The following year he was part of the regional finalist for Online - Online Single Topic Coverage by a Team for coverage of industry layoffs along with Bonnie Sinnock, Andrew Martinez and Maria Volkova.
- Education — He has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Urban Studies from Queens College. He also attended the graduate journalism program at New York University..
- Experience — In 1989, Brad was a reporter on the North Hempstead/Northeast Queens desk for This Week publications on Long Island, with primary coverage of the Great Neck and Little Neck areas. Between January and May 1990, he was associate editor of the Airport Press, covering both passenger and cargo stations at the New York area airports. Brad joined National Mortgage News in May 1990.
- Journalistic affiliations — Brad is a member of the New York Financial Writers Association, where he also served on the board of directors and as an officer of the organization for four years, culminating as president in 2004. Since then he has served on a number of NYFWA committees, including membership, Financial Follies and nominations.
Twitter: @NMNBrad
Most of the disclosures tracked since the beginning of the year were filed in March, the MSRB said.
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.