Posted on 12/28/2020 11:43:56 PM PST by RandFan
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) will try to pass legislation on Tuesday to increase the amount of the stimulus checks included in a recently signed coronavirus package from $600 to $2,000.
Schumer’s effort, which he announced on Monday night, comes after the House passed the legislation in a bipartisan 275-134 vote, kicking the bill to the GOP-controlled Senate.
“Tomorrow I will move to pass the legislation in the Senate to quickly deliver Americans with $2,000 emergency checks. Every Senate Democrat is for this much-needed increase in emergency financial relief, which can be approved tomorrow if no Republican blocks it – there is no good reason for Senate Republicans to stand in the way,” Schumer said in a statement.
“There’s strong support for these $2,000 emergency checks from every corner of the country — Leader McConnell ought to make sure Senate Republicans do not stand in the way of helping to meet the needs of American workers and families who are crying out for help,” he added.
Under the Senate’s rules, any one member can try to pass or vote on a bill, but because it requires the cooperation of the entire chamber, any one senator can also block the request.
No Republican senator has yet said they will object to Schumer’s efforts to pass the House bill through the Senate. But the Democratic leader is expected to fall short after Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) blocked two attempts earlier this month to pass a second round of $1,200 checks.
The support for raising the amount of direct assistance included as part of the $2.3 trillion package — which includes $1.4 trillion to fund the government and $900 billion for coronavirus relief — has gained steam since President Trump urged Congress to increase the amount of the stimulus checks included in the deal from $600 to $2,000.
The agreement provided a $600 check to individuals who make up to $75,000 per year, after which the amount of the checks starts to phase out.
Immediately after Trump issued the video last week demanding the $2,000 checks while trashing other parts of the agreement, Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) endorsed the idea and began trying to build pressure on Republicans to back the effort.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also came out in support of increasing the amount of the payments earlier Monday.
“I share many of my colleagues’ concern about the long-term effects of additional spending, but we cannot ignore the fact that millions of working class families across the nation are still in dire need of relief,” Rubio said in a statement. “Congress should quickly pass legislation to increase direct payments to Americans to $2,000."
But the idea of higher stimulus checks has sparked fierce pushback from some congressional Republicans who point to the country's debt or concerns that many Americans will save the money instead of putting it back into the economy.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership, told reporters late last week that he did not believe a proposal to provide a $2,000 direct payment could pass the GOP-controlled Senate, where it will ultimately need 60 votes to pass.
Trump, as part of his statement announcing he would sign the $2.3 trillion deal, said that the Senate would "start the process for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeals Section 230, and starts an investigation into voter fraud."
A statement from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday night made no mention of the legislative commitments referenced by Trump, and the GOP leader has not yet announced plans to bring up a proposal that would increase the amount of the direct payments
I thought on condition of Trump signing their stupid omnibus covid crony charity bill that the rats were going to immediately, first thing Monday, get that $2000 money passed....
Instead of taking the pork out of the Bill to increase the money paid to Americans, they just added it on top of the Bill.
It also means the Illegal Invaders will get this PLUS the $1200 they didn’t get in the first Stimulus.
Those money trees in DC must be getting watered more than usual.
Really don’t know what’s going to happen...
I see Rubio is squishy and wants them..
Trump favors the $2k stimulus checks. A lot of GOP senators prefer sending money to military contractors and to foreign governments. I side with Trump on this one. If Schumer is also for it, that doesn’t stop me from siding with Trump.
“ I see Rubio is squishy and wants them..”
Trump also wants them. In contrast, Old-fashioned Republican “fiscal conservatives” don’t like spending money on average Americans, only on foreign wars , military contractors, foreign aid, and nation-building. That’s the kind of spending that “conservatives” never complain about!
As Kickass says the Dems will not cut the pork out of the original bill. This would be on top... Roughly 600 billion.
You can’t compete wit the Dems when it comes to spending, it’s never enough...
yeah let’s send money to foreign countries and Military industrial complex and 5,000 other pages of garbage that will almost ALL end up in the hands of politicians or their family and friends.
Folks here have no issue with a 4 trillion dollar bill as long as no real Americans get it :)
How about NO STIMULUS.
Open the economy
The best answer is get rid of the pork and only do checks... but it is what it is. I do think when the smoke clears, more than 600 bucks will go out. We shall see what happens. Think the politics work against the GOP at this moment.
foreign wars , military contractors, foreign aid, and nation-building. That’s the kind of spending that “conservatives” never complain about!
****
Some of us do complain about all that wasteful spending.
Rand has done it on many occasions.
This is the problem...
Dems want welfare and pork
GOP want military spending and their pet projects
They eventually come to an agreement and it’s not good for the taxpayer..
Uniparty in action!
“ You can’t compete wit the Dems when it comes to spending, it’s never enough...”
Actually, Republicans can never spend too much on foreign wars and foreign aid. Congressional Republicans passed resolutions condemning Trump for trying to pull troops from Syria. Our total spending on Middle East wars since Bush invaded Iraq is more that $7 trillion. The only Republican to complain is Trump, and it’s one of the reasons they hate him.
From the time he first started running, he said he wanted to help Americans here in America - that’s what he meant by America First. So it shouldn’t be surprising he supports the $2 k stimulus checks
Republicans opposing it are slipping back into the pre-Trump ideology that lost them elections under McCain and Romney. Watch them keep losing once they’ve ousted Trump
This is Rand 10 years ago!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve-fq27wiBU
I’m with you and Trump on this...
My problem with Rand is his lax policy on immigration and fixation on loosening our criminal enforcement (maybe getting assaulted in DC last summer is making him rethink that?).
I’m just about ready to throw in the towel on the GOP(e). They have no value when it counts. The problem is politicians stay in office far too long. Term limits is the answer. Eight years (two 4 year terms for senators) and eight years for reps (4 two year terms) should be the maximum.
I’m ready for a new Freedom Party filled with conservatives who want to put America first buy building on what Trump did. Trumpian politics works for me.
If Republican Senators oppose $2,000 for every American citizen, they will have formalized the end of the Republican Party.
America Last globalist Republicans are eager to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on Endless Wars and Corporate Cronyism, so their prattle about fiscal conservatism is an obvious lie.
Schumer is running the show..interesting
Schumer is like the Senior Diabetic; When he wakes in the morning he cannot decide if he should prick his finger or finger his prick.
I wish they would offset it.. But its never going to happen.
Rand will definitely oppose it. Not sure about the rest.
If there is a vote they only need 15 Republicans (Needs 60 votes).
Hawley (MO) has been pushing for more and now Rubio (FL) has come out for it so if we use them as a guide then I guess it could pass.
That's why I've always said that it's good when the government is shut down, because they're not working together to spend our money. When they negotiate, it always costs us more money.
> “Instead of taking the pork out of the Bill”
Here’s a detail that isn’t reported by the MSM b/c it makes Trump look ingenious.
1. Trump invoked the 1974 Impoundment Control Act to redline pork to be rescinded.
2. Of course Congress won’t rescind.
3. But the Omnibus bill is good through Dec 31. Funds can be moved electronically in minutes from Treasury to spending accounts and then “The Funds Are Spent”.
4. Any funds not spent by COB Thursday, the authorization for unused funds expires. Use them or lose them.
4. Trump gets to tie up the funds for up to 45 days under the 1974 Act. He ties them up past Thursday and they can no longer be spent.
Ok, usually such a maneuver wouldn’t make a difference because Congress can just say, nope we ain’t rescinding, and then the funds can be spent when they are released from impoundment, 45 days or less.
The 1974 Act alone in the middle of a session of Congress has no teeth.
But the 1974 Act + End Of Year Timing ==> power. Like a line item veto.
There will be no porkulus. Trump outsmarted them.
The new Congress starts Jan 3. They have to do a whole new budget appropriation for 2021-2022. Any porkulus needs to be started over from scratch.
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