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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday postponed a vote to increase COVID-19 relief checks from $ 600 to $ 2,000 and urged senators to override President Donald Trump’s veto. to a defense bill, in a rare challenge to his three fellow Republicans. weeks before Trump leaves office.
McConnell linked the larger checks, which were demanded by Trump and supported by Democrats, to two other measures that the president wants but most Democrats oppose.
The maneuver is likely to kill all three measures.
Trump attacked Republican leaders early Tuesday on Twitter, seeking to pressure them to increase controls and supporting his veto of the defense bill because it does not repeal legal protections for social media companies that he wants to remove.
The Senate should approve the largest aid payments as soon as possible, “unless Republicans have a death wish,” Trump tweeted, appearing to refer to next week’s Georgia runoff elections that will determine control. of the Senate.
A growing number of Republican senators support the paycheck increase, including David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler, who compete in Georgia races.
But other Republicans, concerned about the cost to taxpayers, remain staunchly opposed.
Democrats believe their support for the $ 2,000 checks and Republican opposition will help them in Georgia.
McConnell introduced a bill late Tuesday that combined the $ 2,000 checks with a provision that removes legal protections from social media and another to study electoral security, a key issue for Trump, who has claimed without evidence that fraud robbed him of victory in the November elections.
An aide said McConnell’s introduction of the bill was a procedural move in response to a request from the White House.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer described the measure as a “cynical tactic” and said the legislation would never become law.
Most Democrats are strongly opposed to legal changes for big tech companies and will not endorse any measure that appears to lend credibility to Trump’s allegations of voter fraud.
Lawmakers also have little time to act before the bill expires, as a new Congress will take office on Sunday.
SEPARATING ROADS
Republicans in Congress have largely stuck with Trump for four turbulent years, but the president is angry that lawmakers from his party have failed to fully back up his false claims of fraud in his election loss to Democratic President-elect Biden.
He has also been enraged by Republicans’ efforts to override his veto of the defense bill and his opposition to larger one-time checks for Americans.
A bipartisan $ 892 billion coronavirus aid package that Trump signed into law Sunday contains checks for $ 600.
Trump had been delayed signing the bill, saying the checks were too small. Democrats, who had pushed for higher one-time payments to Americans during months of negotiations, revived those efforts Monday after Trump made it clear that he wanted more, too.
Still, McConnell has rejected Schumer’s call for an independent Senate vote on increased stimulus controls.
He has also refused to give in to Trump’s demands on the military bill, setting the stage for a vote to override the president’s veto in the coming days.
It would be the first time that Congress has overturned a Trump veto.
“For the brave men and women of America’s military, failure is simply not an option,” McConnell said. “So when it’s our turn in Congress to back them, failure is not an option either. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation once again.”
Overriding a presidential veto requires the votes of two-thirds of the House and Senate. The House voted in favor of an override Monday and if the Senate follows suit, the bill becomes law despite opposition from Trump.
The Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote on Trump’s veto Wednesday night, which could lead to final approval later in the week or over the weekend.
In a Twitter storm just before the Senate session began Tuesday morning, Trump lashed out at “weak and tired” Republican leaders.
“WE NEED A NEW AND ENERGY REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP,” he wrote.
“The Republican leadership just wants the path of least resistance. Our leaders (not me, of course!) Are pathetic. They just know how to lose!”
(Information from David Morgan; additional information from Susan Cornwell; edited by Noeleen Walder, Alistair Bell, Howard Goller, Grant McCool, Michelle Price, and Kieran Murray)
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