Some people have already started receiving their $600 coronavirus stimulus checks but the fight for larger $2,000 checks isn’t over. It has, however, stalled in the Senate, thanks to Mitch McConnell.
On Tuesday, a bill to increase the direct payments to $2,000 passed in the House with major bipartisan support. Democrats in the Senate have called on McConnell to hold a vote on the bill, but he has so far refused.
There have been a number of Senate Republicans who have said that they would support the bill—most notably, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who are facing critical runoff elections in Georgia. I guess there’s no more surefire way to lose an election than to come out against putting $1400 in people’s pockets the week before people go to the polls.
Isn’t it wild that one person from Kentucky will decide if Americans get $2,000 stimulus checks
— jeremy (@jeremywball) December 28, 2020
Now McConnell has introduced new legislation that would combine the increased payments with two of Donald Trump’s personal points of passion: his weird campaign to be able to sue Twitter over mean tweets and trying to prove that the last election was stolen by Democrats via voter fraud, despite having yet to be able to provide literally any evidence at all.
The Kentucky Republican, shortly before adjourning the Senate on Tuesday afternoon, introduced a bill that would combine increased direct payments with a repeal of the online liability protections known as Section 230 and the establishment of a commission to study voter fraud. The latter two issues have been significant drivers of Trump’s ire in the wake of his general election loss — the latter of which with zero evidence presented to this point.
Along with demanding larger payments, Trump told lawmakers to cut the “pork” out of their original bill last week. Republicans had also been complaining about the inclusion of foreign aid in the funding package.
I wonder how they feel about tying two completely unrelated points regarding the election and the tech industry to what is supposed to be a porkless COVID-19 relief bill.
idk the “I’m Just a Bill” sequel is way too dark for me pic.twitter.com/T2duUw3jVh
— Jeremy Kaplowitz (@jeremysmiles) December 29, 2020
The Senate was supposed to vote Wednesday to override Trump’s veto of their defense spending bill but Bernie Sanders promised to draw that process out unless McConnell committed to holding a vote on the COVID relief bill as well.
“McConnell and the Senate want to expedite the override vote and I understand that. But I’m not going to allow that to happen unless there is a vote, no matter how long that takes, on the $2,000 direct payment,” Sanders said in an interview on Monday.
Sanders can’t stop the veto vote, but he can drag it out until Friday. Having to stay in D.C. through New Year’s Day isn’t just inconvenient for lawmakers, but it could seriously mess up Loeffler and Perdue’s last-minute campaign plans in Georgia. Making everything even more urgent and confusing, the new class of lawmakers elected in November get sworn in this Sunday.
— MC Das Kapital (@Sandernista412) December 30, 2020
All this because Mitch McConnell doesn’t want people to have an extra $1400 during a pandemic, at the holidays.
(image: Cheriss May/Getty Images)
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