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WASHINGTON – The fate of $ 900 billion in pandemic aid will remain in limbo over the Christmas holidays after House Democrats tried and failed Thursday to triple the size of aid checks, then postponed the House until the Monday when they will try again.
President Trump’s implicit threat Tuesday to reject a relief pledge that was overwhelmingly approved by both houses unless lawmakers agreed to increase the bill’s $ 600 direct paychecks to $ 2,000 has continued to unsettle Congress as it agitates. an already shaky economic recovery. Trump left his Florida home in Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday without saying another public word about the fate of the aid bill, leaving both parties guessing if he really intends to veto the delayed measure, which it includes pandemic aid as well as funds to keep the government open last Monday.
The House Democrats’ Christmas Eve tactic was never intended to pass, but party leaders hoped to put Republicans in a bind, choosing between the president’s wishes for much more generosity and their own leanings. for a modest expense.
Republicans rejected a request from House Majority Leader Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland for unanimous consent to pass a measure that satisfies Trump’s demand for checks of $ 2,000. Without the support of Republican and Democratic leaders, such requests cannot be received in the House. Republicans later did not file their own request to revise the foreign aid provision of the spending legislation that Trump has also opposed, although most of the items come almost dollar-for-dollar from his own budget request.
California President Nancy Pelosi, in a statement Thursday, promised to hold a roll call vote on the direct payments legislation on Monday, stating that voting against “would deny the financial hardships families face and deny them the relief that need. “
Since government funding will expire at the end of the day on Monday, House lawmakers are also considering another interim spending bill, which would be the fifth such spending measure this month, to avoid a shutdown. Hoyer said.
Republican leaders were left wondering aloud why Congress was still grappling with an issue on Christmas Eve that they thought had finally been resolved Monday night.
“There is a long list of positive things that we would be talking about today if we weren’t talking about this,” Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of the Republican leadership, told fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill. “And I think it would be an advantage for the president if we were talking about his achievements instead of questioning late decisions in the administration.”
The pandemic relief and government spending bill, which passed both houses this week with overwhelming bipartisan support, contains the first significant federal relief since April. If the president doesn’t sign it, millions of Americans on Saturday will lose access to two federal unemployment programs that were expanded under the $ 2.2 trillion stimulus bill passed in March. A number of additional relief provisions, including an eviction moratorium, are expected to expire at the end of the month.
Ahead of the two Senate runoff elections in Georgia, Trump has also forced a tense situation for his party, setting up another loyalty test for his most devoted voters that hinges on the rejection of a $ 2.3 trillion package negotiated in partly by senior White House officials.
The president “doesn’t give a damn about the people,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, who was moved by recounting calls from voters asking for federal support during the holiday season. “It sowed more fear. He threw kerosene on the fire. “
Rank and file Republicans are also expressing frustration. On Wednesday night, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, Republican of Ohio, argued that House Republicans had supported Trump for four years.
“If you think that going to Twitter and trashing the bill that your team negotiated and we support on your behalf will bring more people to your side in this electoral fiasco, I hope you are wrong, although I suppose we will see.” González wrote on Twitter.
The second stimulus
Answers to your questions about the stimulus bill
Updated on December 23, 2020
Lawmakers agreed to a plan to issue stimulus payments of $ 600 and distribute a federal unemployment benefit of $ 300 for 11 weeks. You can find more information about the bill and its benefits here.
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- Will I get another stimulus payment? Individual adults with adjusted gross income on their 2019 tax returns of up to $ 75,000 a year would receive a payment of $ 600, and heads of household with income of up to $ 112,500 and a partner (or someone whose spouse passed away in 2020) With income up to $ 150,000 a year, get double that amount. If they have dependent children, they would also receive $ 600 for each child. People with income just above these levels would receive a partial payment that decreases by $ 5 for every $ 100 of income.
- When will my payment arrive? Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC that he expected the first payments to be made before the end of the year. But it will be a while before all eligible people receive their money.
- Does the agreement affect unemployment insurance? Legislators agreed to extend the amount of time people can collect unemployment benefits and restart an additional federal benefit that is provided in addition to the regular state benefit. But instead of $ 600 a week, it would be $ 300. That would last until March 14.
- I am behind in my rent or I hope to be soon. Will I get any relief? The settlement would provide $ 25 billion to be distributed through state and local governments to help tenants who have fallen behind. To receive assistance, households would have to meet several conditions: Family income (for 2020) cannot exceed more than 80 percent of area median income; at least one household member must be at risk of homelessness or housing instability; and individuals must qualify for unemployment benefits or have experienced financial hardship, directly or indirectly, due to the pandemic. The agreement said that assistance would be prioritized for families with lower incomes and who have been unemployed for three months or more.
On behalf of Republicans, Representative Rob Wittman of Virginia tried and failed Thursday to get consideration for a separate request to review annual spending on foreign policy, given that Trump had also objected to how those funds were spent. (That legislation had also garnered the support of 128 Republicans when it passed the House on Monday.)
But Republican leaders weren’t particularly eager to renegotiate the spending portion of the bill, either. Senator Blunt said he believed Trump was confused about the separation between the part of the pandemic aid bill and the foreign aid proposed by his own administration in the part of public spending.
“Certainly the negotiated foreign aid provisions would not benefit if that part of the bill were opened, and frankly, if you start opening part of the bill, it’s hard to defend not opening the whole bill. It took us a long time to get to where we are. I think reopening that bill would be a mistake, ”Blunt told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
“The best way out of this is for the president to sign the bill, and I still hope that is what he decides.”
At a press conference after the unsuccessful motions, Hoyer said House Democrats only accepted the $ 600 checks in the stimulus pledge because Republicans negotiating the deal, including the president’s representative, Steven Mnuchin, the secretary. of the Treasury, they insisted on that figure.
“Mr. Mnuchin suggested that a lower figure might have been appropriate,” Hoyer told reporters. When asked if it had been a mistake to join the aid package and the spending bus, given the combination of various spending provisions Hoyer noted that “perhaps the only mistake was to believe the President and Secretary Mnuchin when they told us that the bill would be approved and signed by the President of the United States.”
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