Republicans are likely to hamper Democrats’ efforts to get the Senate to follow, to increase stimulus payments for most Americans to $ 2,000, although President Donald Trump supports the larger checks.
Forty-four Republicans from the House joined 231 Democrats on Monday to pass a bill that would increase payments of the $ 600 in the pandemic relief legislation Trump signed Sunday. His surprise demand last week for larger payments put Republicans in a bind after resisting something higher than $ 600 during the protracted negotiations on the original bill. Democrats are quickly using it as a pressure point.
Photographer: Oliver Contreras / Bloomberg
“The House and the President agree: we need to deliver $ 2,000 checks to American families struggling this holiday season,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a tweet, urging the Senate to to pass the higher payments.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not said whether the Senate will pass the House bill, will try to vote on another one that will also increase direct payments or simply ignore the issue. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he would ask for unanimous approval for the House law on Tuesday. But the move is expected to draw an objection from a Republican, who will effectively stop the attempt.
Much depends on whether the president passes the issue or uses it to attack the Republicans of the Senate.
He expressed anger at McConnell and other GOP leaders for not supporting his quixotic attempt to overthrow the election results. Now that the $ 2,000 check issue is in the Senate, Trump can turn to social media to draw continued attention to it and try to pressure Republicans to act on the bill.
The Senate is likely to need unanimous consent to vote on both a veto overruling the defense bill and the $ 2,000 legislation before this congressional session expires Sunday. The deal is unlikely.
That could leave the administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who said he would seek an additional stimulus shortly after he was inaugurated on January 20. But whether he has the room to get additional relief from Congress will depend on the outcome of two January by-elections in Georgia that will determine control of the Senate. If Republicans hold only one of these seats, McConnell will remain majority leader and be able to control the Senate agenda.
The House bill voted the chamber at 275 to 134. In addition to increasing the payment amounts and reducing the income to receive a check, the legislation increases the suitability for household members who can receive the money so that adults and child dependents can receive the payments. Currently, only children of adults who are under the income caps qualify for the payments.
The non-partisan committee for a responsible budget estimates that the larger payments will increase disposable income in the first quarter to as much as 25% above pre-pandemic levels. According to the legislation, GDP production will yield an additional 1.5%, but not all growth will take place in 2021, according to Marc Goldwein, an economist who co-authored the CRFB projections.
But many Republicans opposed the current law against stimulus payments of more than $ 600, partly over price concerns. According to estimates by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, it would cost $ 463.8 billion to pay $ 2,000.
“I am concerned that this huge $ 463 billion will not do what is necessary, stimulate the economy or help workers get back to work,” Texas Rep. Kevin Brady said before the vote. said in the House. “It is difficult to stimulate the economy that has been locked up by local politicians.”
‘No’ Vote
Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey said Sunday he would vote against $ 2,000 checks, and Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican in Wisconsin, blocked them in an effort to increase payments to $ 1,200 when legislation passed. about the pandemic relief. During months of Covid-19 emergency relief negotiations, Republicans fought against any direct payments, demanding that $ 600 be the maximum they could support in this round of economic aid.
“What they think is the economy will do itself a favor,” said Steny Hoyer, leader of the House.
A vote against the increased payments would put Senate Republicans at odds with the leader of their party and hold on to a record against a politically popular idea, in a week that Republicans are trying to unite before the end of Georgia.
In the race, Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock both appealed to Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler to support raising stimulus payments to $ 2,000. Perdue did not take a public stand. If Schumer, as expected, is blocked from his request for unanimous consent, no senator will be forced to cast a record vote.
The relief bill passed by Congress has already played a role in the Georgia games. After Trump criticized the legislation and proposed that he may veto it, Perdue urged the president in a phone call on Christmas Day to sign it, worrying that Trump’s delay would harm the chances of him and Loeffler in the end. .
Trump calls $ 600 stimulus checks a ‘disgrace’ and urges Congress to increase it to $ 2,000 while cutting foreign aid and other unspecified ‘pig’s legislation that combines virus relief with funding for government operations. After days of complaints, Trump capitulated Sunday night and signed the bill of more than $ 2.3 billion.
In a statement accompanying his signing of the broader legislation, Trump said the Senate had agreed to begin the process of voting on the $ 2,000 checks, along with a measure to reduce the non- reform related liability protection for technology companies and investigate alleged voter fraud. McConnell has not made any public statements about such an agreement.
– With help from Laura Davison, Jennifer Jacobs and Nancy Cook