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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) walks from the House floor before an expected House vote to increase the second round of federal direct payments to $ 2,000 in Capitol Hill Washington, USA. December 28, 2020, REUTERS / Leah Millis
WASHINGTON / PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives voted 275-134 to meet President Donald Trump’s demand for $ 2,000 COVID-19 relief checks on Monday, sending the measure into the future. uncertain in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Republican Trump threatened last week to block a huge pandemic aid and spending package if Congress did not increase stimulus payments from $ 600 to $ 2,000 and cut other spending. He retracted his demands Sunday as a possible government shutdown loomed, sparked by the fight with lawmakers.
But Democratic lawmakers have long wanted relief checks of $ 2,000 and used the rare point of agreement with Trump to promote the proposal, or at least to turn Republicans against it, in Monday’s vote, less than one month before I leave office.
A total of 130 Republicans, two independents and two Democrats opposed the increase on Monday, which required two-thirds of those present and voters to approve it.
Trump, who lost the November election to Democratic challenger Joe Biden but has refused to admit defeat, finally signed the $ 2.3 trillion package into law after delaying it with a veto threat of a veto. But he continued to demand checks for $ 2,000.
The $ 2.3 trillion includes $ 1.4 trillion in spending to fund government agencies and $ 892 billion in COVID-19 relief.
It’s unclear how the measure will fare to increase aid controls in the Senate, where individual Republican lawmakers have complained that the higher amount would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the latest aid bill.
Increasing the checks would cost $ 464 billion, according to the Joint Tax Committee, which prepares cost estimates for the legislation that goes before Congress.
The Senate will meet on Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made no mention Sunday of the Senate’s plans for a vote, after welcoming Trump’s signing of the aid bill.
The coronavirus pandemic has killed nearly 330,000 people in the United States and caused widespread economic hardship, with millions of families relying on unemployment benefits and COVID-19 relief funds.
Global markets perked up after Trump approved the package.
Major Wall Street indices hit record highs Monday as Trump’s signing of the aid bill bolstered bets on an economic recovery and boosted gains in financial and energy stocks.
House lawmakers Monday will also seek to overturn Trump’s recent veto on a policy establishing a $ 740 billion bill for the Department of Defense. If successful, it would be the first override of Trump’s presidential veto.
When asked at the end of an event in Wilmington, Delaware, if he supported expanding the payouts to $ 2,000, Biden replied, “Yes.”
Georgia Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, facing a crucial runoff in the Senate next month that could determine who controls the chamber, welcomed Trump’s measure, without saying whether payments should be increased.
As the floor debate unfolded, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “Republicans can choose, vote for this legislation, or vote to deny the American people the bigger wages they need.”
And US Democratic Representative Dan Kildee said: “We would have included much higher payments in the legislation if he (Trump) had spoken earlier. But it is never too late to do the right thing. “
But Republican Rep. Kevin Brady said the bill doesn’t help people get back to work. “I’m concerned that since we spent another half a billion dollars so hastily, we are not directing this aid to the Americans who struggle the most and need that help,” he said.
The US Treasury Department plans to send the first wave of $ 600 stimulus checks to US individuals and households starting this week, as previously planned, a senior Treasury official said Monday.
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