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.
David Tobias serves as the General Manager of Insurance at Nearmap. Previously, he co-founded Betterview, the leading Property Intelligence Platform for P&C insurers, which was acquired by Nearmap in December 2023. David plays a pivotal role in driving the insurance market strategy for the Betterview Platform, enabling insurers to effectively identify and mitigate risk, enhance operational and inspection efficiency, and build a more transparent customer experience throughout the policy lifecycle.
Before founding Betterview, David was instrumental in scaling Research Specialist Incorporated, an insurance loss control company. Under his leadership, the company expanded to conduct over 30,000 inspections annually with a network of more than 500 inspectors across the United States. Research Specialist Incorporated was later acquired by Alpine Intel. A veteran of the insurance industry and property inspection business, Tobias is focused on finding actionable, usable solutions to insurance-specific problems.
John Bowers is the Actuarial Product Director from RNA Analytics.
Craig West is founder and chairman of Capitaliz, a digital platform for exit planners and advisors to deliver scalable business valuation, succession and exit planning outcomes.
“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.