Democratic-Controlled House Passes Bill to Increase Stimulus Checks to $2,000
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House Democrats, with little help from Republicans, voted to raise the amount of the coronavirus relief stimulus checks to $2,000. But, although the president says he supports an increase from the $600 already allotted in the relief bill that he finally signed into law on Sunday, the new legislation’s chances of passing the Republican-controlled Senate are not good.
Democrats brought the bill to the House floor on Monday, and it needed a two-thirds majority to pass. The legislation squeaked by because forty-four Republicans joined the Democratic majority in the 275-134 vote.
Now the bill heads to the Senate, where Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Trump through reporters to pressure Republican senators to get it passed.
“Every Senate Democrat is for it, but unfortunately, we don’t have the Republicans on board,” Schumer said. “These Senate Republicans have followed you through thick and thin. Get them now to act and to support the $2,000 checks.”
But Schumer’s pleas will likely make no difference. According to NBC News, Senator Roy Blunt, chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, said that even if they get the measure up for a vote in the Senate, it would not reach the 60-vote threshold needed for passage.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement on Sunday, prior to the vote and echoed the minority leader’s call for Trump to lean on his friends in the Senate.
“The president of the United States has put this forth as something he wants to see,” Pelosi said. “I hope that view will be shared by the Republicans in the Senate.”
Also on Monday, President-elect Joe Biden said he thinks the checks should be raised to $2,000. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has not commented on the topic thus far.
Republican lawmakers are ignoring the needs of their own constituents if they don’t act. As Vox editor Kay Steiger observed and then shared on Twitter, the top 5 states searching the internet for stimulus checks information this morning are red states.
via https://www.DMT.NEWS/
Peter Wade, Khareem Sudlow, DMTDaily
