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.
Bob Bastian is Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Prudential Individual Life Insurance and Annuities businesses. Bastian leads industry experts in creating modern digital and technology solutions, crucial for serving customer needs in a rapidly evolving financial technology landscape. Bastian drives comprehensive changes across multiple dimensions including culture, talent, organization, process and architecture which have dramatically improved time-to-market, reduced cost and established sustainability for future growth. Bastian joined Prudential in 1999 and has spent the majority of his time as part of the Life business. In this role he was instrumental in the successful onboarding of the Hartford business, leading over 25 cross functional teams toward a seamless integration.
Amaresh Tripathy is global business leader, analytics, at Genpact, a global professional services firm focused on delivering digital transformation.
Malik Azeez is director of product information management at Paradigm Technology.
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.