GOP blocks Democrats’ bid for $2K payments Trump demanded

House Republicans blocked Democrats’ attempt to meet President Donald Trump’s demand to pay most Americans $2,000 to help weather the coronavirus pandemic.

House Republicans blocked Democrats’ attempt to meet President Donald Trump’s demand to pay most Americans $2,000 to help weather the coronavirus pandemic.

Republicans objected to the bill House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer sought to pass by unanimous consent Thursday to replace the $600 payments in the latest pandemic relief legislation with the $2,000 payments.

CORONAVIRUS IMPACT: ADDITIONAL COVERAGE
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Christina Hupy is Vice President of HazardHub at Guidewire. Guidewire's HazardHub provides data, risk scores, and risk models to the P&C insurance industry.

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Sam Deleo is director of content marketing for Tucker Advisors, a Colorado-based national marketing organization and leading wholesale distributor of annuities and life insurance products to top independent agents nationwide.

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With deep expertise in fintech, regtech, and cybersecurity, Whitney has driven innovation throughout her career in B2B marketing. As the Owner and Founder of Beacon, she transformed it from a solo venture into an award-winning B2B marketing agency with over 20 professionals, recognized on the Inc 5000 list for three consecutive years. Whitney's diverse career spans national security, tech startups, and global risk management, where she has guided over 200 firms on strategic marketing, branding, and lead generation.

She holds a Master's in International Relations focused on National Security from Syracuse University and a Bachelor's in Political Science from Boise State University.

“House and Senate Democrats have repeatedly fought for bigger checks for the American people, which House and Senate Republicans have repeatedly rejected — first, during our negotiations when they said that they would not go above $600 and now, with this act of callousness on the Floor,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Thursday.

Democrats will try again with a roll call vote on a new bill Dec. 28, when the House also plans a vote to override Trump’s veto on the National Defense Authorization Act. Since current government spending runs out that day — and funds for the rest of the fiscal year are included in the virus relief bill Trump criticized and hasn’t signed -- the House could also pass another stopgap measure to avert a partial government shutdown.

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A runner stands near the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
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Republicans on Thursday tried to seek unanimous consent on a measure to examine taxpayer money spent on foreign aid, but Democrats blocked that move. In his complaint Tuesday about Congress’s combined virus aid and government spending bill, Trump criticized federal resources spent on international programs, even though that spending was allocated as part of the bipartisan appropriations process.