Published 14:17 IST, December 30th 2020
McConnell blocks Democrats' move to increase stimulus payments from $600 to $2000
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked the demand to increase the one-off stimulus payments to the American pubic from $600 to $2000.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked the demand to increase the one-off stimulus payments to the American pubic from $600 to $2000, despite some Republicans supporting the move brought in by the Democrats and backed by President Donald Trump. The outgoing president has already signed the COVID-19 relief package with $600 as payments on Sunday, but he and the Democrats want bigger cheques for the US citizens. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called a full floor vote on Monday regarding the increase of stimulus payments, which was passed in the lower house of the US Congress.
When the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to introduce a bill to increase the direct payments to $2000, McConnell blocked the bill and later introduced another legislation that would not only increase the one-off payments, but also repeal Section 230, a law that prevents social media companies from getting sued for third-party content, and set up a commission to study election integrity. President Trump has also called for these measures to be included in the bill, apart from the increase of payments.
'Republicans blocking $2000 cheques'
However, it is unlikely that the Democrats would vote for the additional measures attached by McConnell. "Senator McConnell and Senate Republicans are the only things standing between Americans and $2000 survival checks. Democrats will not stop fighting to help people struggling to keep their jobs, pay their rent, feed their families," Schumer said in a tweet. The Senate Minority leader also added that Republicans saying it would add too much to the deficit is a sham because they themselves added $2 trillion to the deficit by providing massive tax cuts to the big corporations.
Meanwhile, independent Senator Bernie Sanders has said that he would block McConnell's effort to bring in a separate vote to override the Presidential veto on the Defence bill until the legislation to provide a $2,000 direct payment is passed. The defence bill has already received enough votes in the House to override Trump's veto, which has also got support from the Republicans. The move has already angered the outgoing president, who is repeatedly criticising his own party for the past few days.
Updated 14:15 IST, December 30th 2020