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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Brett Miller is chief financial officer at Restaurant365, where he is responsible for financial and strategic functions including accounting, audit, treasury, corporate finance and corporate strategy. He also leads all IT-related activities. Prior to joining R365, he led the M&A and global strategy teams for a Fortune 500 manufacturing company. He received his CPA license while a member of the transaction services team at KPMG.

Dr. Wayne Jenkins is an accomplished physician and executive with a proven track record of patient-centered, revenue-driven results. Over the course of his career, he's consistently transformed large, complex healthcare systems into market leaders that deliver quality and value in a dynamically changing environment. Prior to Centivo, he was the Chief Clinical Officer for Population Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he provided clinical oversight of value-based care delivery and completed the formation of Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Before his time at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, he served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Orlando Health, as well as President of Orlando Health Physician Partners. Previously, Wayne was the chief of radiation oncology and then subsequently the medical director for the Florida affiliate of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, a subsidiary of Orlando Health, Inc. Wayne holds a BA from the University of Tennessee, an MD from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and a Master's of Health Policy and Administration from Johns Hopkins University. He is board-certified in radiation oncology and was recognized in Best Doctors in America annually from 1994 to 2015. He's published 18 scientific articles and is often sought out to speak at state and national conferences.

“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.
Oliver Contreras/Bloomberg

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.