Trump’s $2K checks stall in Senate
Pressure mounts in GOP-led chamber to boost spending
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s push for bigger $2,000 COVID- 19 relief checks stalled out Tuesday in the Senate as Republicans blocked a swift vote proposed by Democrats and split within their own ranks over whether to boost spending or defy the White House.
The roadblock mounted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may not be sustainable as pressure mounts. Trump wants the Republican-led chamber to follow the House and increase the checks from $600 for millions of Americans.
A growing number of Republicans, including two senators in runoff elections Jan. 5 in Georgia, have said they will support the larger amount. But most GOP senators oppose more spending, even if they are also wary of bucking Trump.
Senators will be back at it Wednesday as McConnell is devising a way out of the political bind, but the outcome is uncertain.
“There’s one question left today: Do Senate Republicans join with the rest of America in supporting $2,000 checks?” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as he made a motion to vote.
The showdown has thrown Congress into a chaotic year-end session just days before new lawmakers are set to be sworn into office for the new year.
It’s preventing action on another priority — overturning Trump’s veto on a sweeping defense bill that has been approved every year for 60 years.
On Tuesday, Trump lashed out at congressional Republicans after the House easily voted to override his veto of a defense policy bill, charging that “Weak and tired Republican ‘leadership’ will allow the bad Defense Bill to pass.”
Trump called the override vote a “disgraceful act of cowardice and total submission by weak people to Big Tech. Negotiate a better Bill, or get better leaders, NOW!
Senate should not approve NDAA until fixed!!!”
The 322-87 vote in the House, which included 109 Republicans opposing Trump, sends the override effort to the Senate, where the exact timing of a vote is uncertain.
McConnell, R-Ky., wants a vote as soon as Wednesday, but Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders objected to moving ahead until McConnell allows a vote on a Trumpbacked plan to increase COVID-19 relief payments to $2,000.
“Let me be clear: If Sen.
McConnell doesn’t agree to an up or down vote to provide the working people of our country a $2,000 direct payment, Congress will not be going home for New Year’s Eve,” said Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
“Let’s do our job.”
McConnell said Tuesday that approval of the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, is crucial to the nation’s defense and to “deter great-power rivals like China and Russia.”
The bill “will cement our advantage on the seas, on land, in the air, in cyberspace and in space,” McConnell said. The bill also provides a 3% pay raise for U.S. troops, improvements for military housing, child care and more, McConnell said.
“For the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces, failure is not an option. So when it is our turn in Congress to have their backs, failure is not an option here either,” he said.
Saying little about Trump’s proposal on COVID relief, McConnell signaled his preference for an alternative approach. The GOP leader filed new legislation late Tuesday linking the president’s demand for bigger checks with two other Trump priorities — restrictions on tech companies like Facebook or Twitter that the president complained are unfair to conservatives as well as the establishment of a new commission to review the presidential election.
“The Senate will begin a process,” the GOP leader said, adding he would bring the president’s demand for the $2,000 checks and other remaining issues “into focus.”
The president’s last-minute push for bigger checks deeply divides Republicans, who are split between those who align with Trump’s populist instincts and those who adhere to what had been more traditional conservative views against government spending.
Congress had compromised on $600 payments in the big, year-end relief bill Trump reluctantly signed into law.
The two GOP senators from Georgia — David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — announced Tuesday that they support Trump’s plan for bigger checks as they face Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in runoff elections that will determine control of the Senate.
“I’m delighted to support the president,” said Perdue on Fox News. Loeffler said on Fox that she, too, backs the boosted relief checks.
Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marco Rubio of Florida, among the party’s potential 2024 presidential hopefuls, are also pushing the party in the president’s direction.
“We’ve got the votes.
Let’s vote today,” Hawley tweeted.
Other Republicans panned the bigger checks saying the nearly $400 billion price tag was too high, the relief is not targeted to those in need and Washington has already dispatched ample sums on COVID aid.
“We’ve spent $4 trillion on this problem,” said Sen.
John Cornyn, R-Texas.
The roadblock mounted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may not be sustainable as pressure mounts. Trump wants the Republican-led chamber to follow the House and increase the checks from $600 for millions of Americans.
A growing number of Republicans, including two senators in runoff elections Jan. 5 in Georgia, have said they will support the larger amount. But most GOP senators oppose more spending, even if they are also wary of bucking Trump.
Senators will be back at it Wednesday as McConnell is devising a way out of the political bind, but the outcome is uncertain.
“There’s one question left today: Do Senate Republicans join with the rest of America in supporting $2,000 checks?” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as he made a motion to vote.
The showdown has thrown Congress into a chaotic year-end session just days before new lawmakers are set to be sworn into office for the new year.
It’s preventing action on another priority — overturning Trump’s veto on a sweeping defense bill that has been approved every year for 60 years.
On Tuesday, Trump lashed out at congressional Republicans after the House easily voted to override his veto of a defense policy bill, charging that “Weak and tired Republican ‘leadership’ will allow the bad Defense Bill to pass.”
Trump called the override vote a “disgraceful act of cowardice and total submission by weak people to Big Tech. Negotiate a better Bill, or get better leaders, NOW!
Senate should not approve NDAA until fixed!!!”
The 322-87 vote in the House, which included 109 Republicans opposing Trump, sends the override effort to the Senate, where the exact timing of a vote is uncertain.
McConnell, R-Ky., wants a vote as soon as Wednesday, but Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders objected to moving ahead until McConnell allows a vote on a Trumpbacked plan to increase COVID-19 relief payments to $2,000.
“Let me be clear: If Sen.
McConnell doesn’t agree to an up or down vote to provide the working people of our country a $2,000 direct payment, Congress will not be going home for New Year’s Eve,” said Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
“Let’s do our job.”
McConnell said Tuesday that approval of the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, is crucial to the nation’s defense and to “deter great-power rivals like China and Russia.”
The bill “will cement our advantage on the seas, on land, in the air, in cyberspace and in space,” McConnell said. The bill also provides a 3% pay raise for U.S. troops, improvements for military housing, child care and more, McConnell said.
“For the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces, failure is not an option. So when it is our turn in Congress to have their backs, failure is not an option here either,” he said.
Saying little about Trump’s proposal on COVID relief, McConnell signaled his preference for an alternative approach. The GOP leader filed new legislation late Tuesday linking the president’s demand for bigger checks with two other Trump priorities — restrictions on tech companies like Facebook or Twitter that the president complained are unfair to conservatives as well as the establishment of a new commission to review the presidential election.
“The Senate will begin a process,” the GOP leader said, adding he would bring the president’s demand for the $2,000 checks and other remaining issues “into focus.”
The president’s last-minute push for bigger checks deeply divides Republicans, who are split between those who align with Trump’s populist instincts and those who adhere to what had been more traditional conservative views against government spending.
Congress had compromised on $600 payments in the big, year-end relief bill Trump reluctantly signed into law.
The two GOP senators from Georgia — David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — announced Tuesday that they support Trump’s plan for bigger checks as they face Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in runoff elections that will determine control of the Senate.
“I’m delighted to support the president,” said Perdue on Fox News. Loeffler said on Fox that she, too, backs the boosted relief checks.
Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marco Rubio of Florida, among the party’s potential 2024 presidential hopefuls, are also pushing the party in the president’s direction.
“We’ve got the votes.
Let’s vote today,” Hawley tweeted.
Other Republicans panned the bigger checks saying the nearly $400 billion price tag was too high, the relief is not targeted to those in need and Washington has already dispatched ample sums on COVID aid.
“We’ve spent $4 trillion on this problem,” said Sen.
John Cornyn, R-Texas.
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