U.S. President Donald Trump came to a halt for larger $ 2,000 COVID-19 relief inquiries in the Senate Tuesday when Republicans blocked a quick vote proposed by Democrats and divided within ranks whether they should encourage spending or challenge the White House.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell threw up obstacles to Trump’s request to raise the sanctions from $ 600 for millions of Americans even as political pressure mounts.
A growing number of Republicans, including two grandparents in Jan. 5’s stream elections in Georgia, said they would support the larger sum.
Most Republican senators oppose the extra spending on COVID-19, which would cost the U.S. government $ 484bn, even though they would also be wary of Trump’s pressure to repeated his request in a tweet: “$ 2000 for our greats, not $ 600!”
Following Trump’s lead, Republican Senators Josh Hawley and Marco Rubio, among the party’s top 2024 supporters, are pushing for the $ 2,000 checks. “We have the votes. We will vote today, “Hawley tweeted.
We have the votes. We will vote today https://t.co/woFBHPMSjz
– Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) 29 December 2020
Trying to chart a way out of the political affiliation, McConnell offered the president’s request to combine larger studies with two proposals that Trump wants are unrealistic for Democrats – content restrictions on tech companies like Facebook or Twitter and set up a commission to review Trump’s fraud claims in the primary election.
“Senator McConnell knows how to conduct $ 2,000 survival studies and knows how to kill them,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
McConnell “uploads the bipartisan measure passed by house” handing out the $ 2,000 check “with unbounded, partisan provisions that will do nothing for struggling families across the country to help, “Schumer said.
This result has thrown Congress into a chaotic end – of – year session just days before new legislators are brought into office for the new year. And he is blocking action on another priority – reversing Trump’s veto on an annual defense policy bill that is scrapping.
Last-minute presidential push for larger studies splits Republicans, who are divided between those who align with Trump’s populist instincts and those who adhere to more traditional conservative views against government spending. Congress had settled on $ 600 less payments in a compromise over the big year-end aid bill that Trump submitted to law.
Now, liberal senators led by Bernmont Sanders of Vermont who support the relief aid are suspending action on the defense bill until a vote on Trump’s $ 2,000 for the most Americans. “The working class of this country today is experiencing more economic despair than ever before from the Great Depression of the 1930s,” Sanders said in Senate remarks. “Working families need help now. “
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, walks on Capitol Hill in Washington [File: Susan Walsh/AP Photo]
The Republican embargo is causing some controversy as the virus crisis worsens and Trump increases its unexpected demands.
Georgia’s two Republican grandparents, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, announced Tuesday that they support Trump’s plan for larger investigations while opposing Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in current elections. decide which party controls the Senate.
“I am very pleased to support the president,” Perdue told Fox News broadcaster Loeffler said in an interview with Fox that she, too, supports the increased relief checks.
Trump reiterated his request in a tweet ahead of Tuesday’s Senate session: “$ 2000 for our big people, not $ 600!” Another Republican blocked the big polls saying the price tag was nearly $ 484bn too high, the relief is not aimed at those in need and Washington has put out enough sums about COVID support- 19. “We have spent $ 4 trillion on this problem,” Republican Senator John Cornyn said.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted late Monday to approve Trump’s request for $ 2,000 checks in a dramatic turn of events. Just days earlier, during a brief Christmas Eve session, Republicans had blocked Trump’s sudden request for larger investigations because he defiantly refused to sign the broader COVID-19 aid bill and end-of-year funding bill to law.
Trump spent days showering from his private club in Florida, where he spends his holidays and millions of Americans saw jobless relief as the country blocked the closure of a federal government.
Economists said a $ 600 survey would help, but it was a long way from the spending power that a $ 2,000 survey would bring to the economy. “It will make a big difference whether it’s $ 600 versus $ 2,000,” said Ryan Sweet, an economist with Moody’s.
Followed by a sacked staffman, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell leaves the Capitol for the day [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo]
The prospect now, however, is that McConnell will set votes ahead of both the past measure in the House supporting Trump’s $ 2,000 scrutiny in addition to his own new version which links it to tech company reforms and the primary election review. That would be a process that no bill is sure to pass.
Time is running out to resolve the issue. A new Congress is to be sworn in on Sunday. The $ 600 checks are expected to be delivered, along with other support, among the largest rescue packages of its kind.