Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday blocked a Senate Democrats’ attempt to approve $2,000 stimulus checks legislation for most Americans after it was passed overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives, rejecting a request made by President Donald Trump.
McConnell’s rejection comes as an increasing number of Senate Republicans voiced support for the dramatically larger checks, The Washington Post reports.
Democrats are pushing for an up-or-down vote on the House bill, while more Republicans acknowledge a need for larger stimulus checks.
Speaking from the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) slammed McConnell’s move.
“There’s a major difference in saying you support $2,000 checks and fighting to put them into law,” he said, according to The Post. “The House bill is the only way the only way to deliver these stimulus checks before the end of session. Will Senate Republicans stand against the House of Representatives, the Democratic majority in the Senate, and the president of their own party to prevent these $2,000 checks from going out the door?”
On Monday, the House of Representatives voted on a bipartisan basis to boost stimulus checks set to go out to American households from $600 to $2,000.
But McConnell blocked the legislation, invoking Trump’s Sunday statement that called for not only larger checks, but also new curbs on large tech companies and investigations into the November election.
“Those are the three important subjects the President has linked together,” he said. “This week the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus.”
