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.
Naseer Nasim is the president and CEO of Aptys Solutions, a provider of payment solutions for financial institutions.
Zach Donah is president and CEO of MassCPAs, where he works closely with the Massachusetts Society of CPAs' leadership team on the overall management and oversight of the society and its educational foundation. He has been with the society since 2013, serving in various roles in the organization's government affairs team. Prior to joining the society, Donah served as a legislative director and chief of staff in the Massachusetts State Senate.
Bill Snyder is the Chief Executive Officer of Vivante Health, a leading digital digestive health company and sponsored benefit, and has over 15 years of experience in healthcare technology and leadership. Prior to Vivante Health, Bill built and led national sales efforts and led the health plan practice at Virta Health. Previously, he spent 11 years with Humana, serving in various leadership positions, including Vice President of the company's Greater Chicago region.
“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.

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.


