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.
Dr. Donald Mullineaux is the DuPont endowed chair in banking and financial services emeritus in the Gatton School of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky. He served on the board of directors at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati from 2011 to 2023, including six years as chair.
Jody Bhagat is President of Americas at Personetics, a global leader in data-driven personalization and customer engagement for financial institutions. In this capacity, he is responsible for driving customer impact and establishing market leadership with the company's Self-Driving Finance proposition. Personetics delivers personalized insights, advice, and automated programs to help customers improve their financial well-being. Previously, he was a Partner at McKinsey, where he helped financial institutions execute digital transformation programs to drive organic growth. Jody has also held digital leadership roles at leading AI-driven fintechs and North American Banks, including U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Providian, and Citizens Bank.
Yaniv Bertele, co-founder and CEO of VESTTOO, is an experienced strategist and business development and investment executive.
Before the establishment of Vesttoo, Yaniv served as VP Business Development in a number of global companies, including Consumer Physics, Goji, CTG Holdings and Poseidon Diving Systems; In addition, while leading the corporate VC of Mekorot, Israel's National Water Company, he personally led 16 different equity investments in various startups, including the successful exit of Bacsoft. Acquired by Sun Corporation (TYO: 6736). Yaniv holds a Master's degrees in Physics and Mathematics and is an active reserve officer at an IDF Elite Unit.
“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.