Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put a stop to a quick vote that would have increased the COVID stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600.
The House voted to increase the amount on Monday, 273-134.
McConnell did not explain why he objected to the vote.
Instead, McConnell mentioned that he would like to package the checks with other concerns from President Donald Trump:
Mr. McConnell, without giving details, also said the Senate would address Mr. Trump’s concerns about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which regulates online speech, and his repeated complaints about purported election fraud. Mr. Trump has blamed fraud for his election loss, but no significant fraud has emerged.“This week the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus,” the Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor. He didn’t comment on whether the items could potentially be linked together in one bill for a vote, or if they could receive separate votes. A spokesman also declined to comment on the plans.Mr. McConnell also scheduled a vote for Wednesday to override President Trump’s veto of the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act, after the House held its own vote and overrode the veto by a large bipartisan majority on Monday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) then objected to McConnell “scheduling a quick vote on overriding Trump’s veto on NDAA.”
Trump pushed the Republicans to pass the stimulus checks now.
Experts believed the COVID checks faced a challenge in the Senate. But after the House passed its bill, five Republican senators agreed to increase the checks to $2,000. This includes the two Georgia senators, who face a run-off on January 5:
But after the House passed the bill, five Republicans have signaled that they back increasing the size of the stimulus checks. Sens. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Deb Fischer (R., Neb.) have all voiced support to increase the checks. Notably, Georgia Republican incumbent Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who are engaged in runoff races that will determine control of the Senate, both said Tuesday that they support the president’s call to increase the stimulus checks.“I’m delighted to support the president in this $2,000,” Mr. Perdue said on Fox News. “It’s really a $1,400 increment over what we’ve done… It’s the right thing to do for people in Georgia.”
The senators did not say they agree with the House bill or if they want to amend the bill and send it back to the House.
Fischer is worried about combining the checks with the other priorities into one legislation bill. She noted that “you end up with bad policy.”
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