Republicans will likely block Democrats’ attempts to have the Senate quickly follow the House in boosting stimulus payments for most Americans to $2,000, even as President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on the GOP to back bigger checks.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he’ll seek unanimous consent Tuesday to pass a bill approved by a wide margin in the House, which would increase the payments from the $600 in the pandemic relief legislation Trump signed on Sunday. The move is expected to draw an objection from a Republican.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn’t said whether the Senate would take up the House bill, attempt to vote on a different one that would also increase direct payments or simply ignore the issue.
Trump on Tuesday, in a series of tweets that also excoriated Republican leaders on a defense policy bill, again demanded that the stimulus payments should be scaled up.
His surprise demand last week for bigger payments put Republicans in a bind after they resisted anything higher than $600 during the drawn-out negotiations on the original bill.
In the House on Monday, 44 Republicans joined 231 Democrats on Monday to pass a bill increasing the payments to $2,000. Democrats were quick to use Trump’s endorsement as a pressure point.
“The House and the President are in agreement: we must deliver $2,000 checks to American families struggling this Holiday Season,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a tweet, calling on the Senate to pass the higher payments.
Trump has expressed anger at McConnell and other GOP leaders for failing to back his quixotic attempt to overturn the election results. Now that the $2,000 checks issue is in the Senate, Trump is using social media to draw continued attention to it and pressure Republicans to take action.
McConnell is expected to speak about the issue when he opens the Senate for debate Tuesday afternoon. The Senate would likely need unanimous consent to be able to vote on both a defense bill veto override and the $2,000 checks legislation before this session of Congress expires on Sunday. Getting that agreement is unlikely.
That may leave it to the administration of President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he’ll seek an additional stimulus shortly after being inaugurated on Jan. 20.
Yet whether he’ll have latitude to get additional relief through Congress will depend on the outcome of two runoff elections in Georgia on Jan. 5 that will decide control of the Senate. If Republicans hold on to just one of those seats, McConnell would remain majority leader and able to control the Senate agenda.