Trump signs off on $600 stimulus checks. But a vote on $2,000 direct payments ...

[IceWizard]

Presidential Transition Live Updates:
McConnell Blocks Immediate Vote
on $2,000 Stimulus Checks,
While Tacking On Demands


Updated
Dec. 29, 2020, 3:44 p.m. ET 2m ago



The majority leader said the Senate may consider the larger stimulus checks while
looking at two other demands from President Trump: protecting election security
and removing some legal protections for technology companies.



Here’s what you need to know:

McConnell blocks immediate vote on $2,000 stimulus checks,
leaving their fate in limbo.

Joe Biden plans to discuss the pace of the vaccine rollout.

Perdue and Loeffler back $2,000 checks after relief package
becomes a hot topic in Georgia Senate race.

Here’s what’s included in the stimulus package Trump signed.

A federal judge halts a voter purge in two Georgia counties
before the runoff.

Kamala Harris gets the coronavirus vaccine and urges others
to do the same.




Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, on Tuesday blocked an
effort to hold an immediate vote to increase stimulus checks to $2,000, saying instead
that the Senate would “begin a process” to consider bigger payments, along with
other demands issued by President Trump, leaving the fate of the measure unclear
as more Republicans clamored to endorse it.

Mr. McConnell did not elaborate further on how — or when — the Senate would move
to consider Mr. Trump’s demands, which the president made on Sunday after finally
agreeing to sign a $900 billion stimulus package and government spending bill into law.
Mr. Trump had held the package hostage for days, insisting that lawmakers increase
the direct payments to $2,000 from $600, remove a legal shield for companies like
YouTube and Facebook and investigate “very substantial voter fraud.”

The president relented only after Republican lawmakers persuaded him to sign the
legislation, saying on Sunday that he had been promised that Congress would take
up his demands.

Mr. McConnell’s decision to block a vote on increasing the stimulus payments came
as a growing number of Republican senators voiced support for the larger checks,
and as pressure mounted on the Senate to vote on the measure.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, tried to force an immediate
vote on increasing the size of the checks using a procedural tactic that allows senators
to advance legislation unless another senator objects. Mr. McConnell blocked the measure.

“Senate Democrats strongly support $2,000 checks. Even President Trump supports
$2,000 checks,” Mr. Schumer said. “There’s one question left today: Do Senate Republicans
join with the rest of America in supporting $2,000 checks?”

A growing number of Republican senators have endorsed higher stimulus payments, including
Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both Georgia lawmakers facing tight runoff elections
next week, who announced on Tuesday that they supported larger stimulus checks.

They joined a handful of others, including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Josh Hawley
of Missouri and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who have backed increasing the
checks to $2,000. But the majority of Senate Republicans have so far remained opposed to the plan.

Mr. McConnell’s decision to link all of Mr. Trump’s demands could doom any chance of passage.
While Democrats all support larger checks, they are unlikely to endorse a hasty overhaul of the legal
shield currently in place for social media companies, especially measures put forward by Republican
senators aimed at confronting what they believe is anti-conservative bias.

Democrats are also likely to resist anything that could be seen as trying to undermine the outcome
of the 2020 presidential election, as Mr. Trump has suggested. Mr. McConnell, who has privately
urged his members not to object to the election results when Congress meets on Jan. 6 to ratify them,
portrayed the president’s request as “exploring further ways to protect the sanctity of American ballots.”
But Mr. Trump has been laser-focused on getting Congress to investigate “the very substantial voter
fraud which took place,” an assertion he has repeated contrary to considerable evidence.

The House voted on Monday evening to increase the size of the checks to $2,000, daring Senate Republicans
to either approve the heftier sum or defy Mr. Trump. The president kept up his campaign for the measure
on Tuesday, demanding in a tweet “$2000 for our great people, not $600!”

The House vote, which just reached the two-thirds majority needed to pass, came a day after Mr. Trump
finally signed off on a $900 billion pandemic relief package he initially denounced as a “disgrace” and
refused to sign. The legislation, which passed by a vote of 275 to 134, was supported by 44 Republicans.

In signing the relief bill on Sunday night, Mr. Trump claimed in a statement that the Senate would
“start the process for a vote” on legislation that would increase direct payments and pledged that
“much more money is coming.”

Republican lawmakers in the House were visibly frustrated with Mr. Trump’s demand. Some of the
president’s closest allies, including Representatives Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican,
and Jim Jordan of Ohio, voted against the measure, and Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the top
Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, complained on the House floor that the proposal had
been “hastily dropped on us at the last minute” and wouldn’t assist those who needed it most.

“I worry that this whopping $463 billion won’t do what’s needed — stimulate the economy or help
workers get back to work,” Mr. Brady said.



— Catie Edmondson



****And the fight continues****