McConnell Punts On $2,000 Stimulus Checks Bill Despite Bipartisan Pressure

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday punted on a House-passed bill to increase coronavirus relief payments to $2,000 despite mounting bipartisan pressure to do so, including from President Donald Trump.

McConnell acknowledged that Trump, as he signed on Sunday the most recent COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress, also asked for action on three areas of concern for him, including the $2,000 payments. The other issues on Trump’s wish list are intensified election security and lesser liability protections for social media companies.

The Democratic-controlled House on Monday passed a bill to more than triple the relief payments from the $600 in the bill Trump signed to $2,000, with dozens of Republicans voting in favor of it. The Senate’s Democratic leadership is pressing McConnell to bring the measure calling for $2,000 payments to a vote in the chamber, but the majority leader has so far refused to commit to that.

McConnell on Tuesday offered a vague preview of his legislative plan as the current congressional session draws to a close shortly into the new year. “This week, the Senate will begin a process” to bring address the three issues raised by Trump “into focus,” he said from the Senate floor.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.