House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will vote Monday to approve the $ 2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks requested by President Trump after Republicans blocked her bid for a unanimous vote on Christmas Eve.
House Republicans accuse Pelosi (D-Calif.) Of ignoring Trump’s request to suppress the $ 2.3 trillion spending bill passed this week for billions in foreign aid. Democrats shot down their counter-offers on Thursday to reconsider those funds.
Pelosi, who unhesitatingly embraced Trump’s demand Tuesday night for $ 600 stimulus checks to increase to $ 2,000, tore against the Republicans for objecting to unanimous approval.
“Today, on Christmas Eve morning, House Republicans cruelly deprived the American people of the $ 2,000 the president wanted to support,” Pelosi said in a statement.
“If the president is serious about the $ 2,000 direct payments, he must call on House Republicans to end their obstruction.”
Some conservatives are concerned about the growth in public debt during the coronavirus pandemic and are no longer willing to approve funds.
Most lawmakers will be in their home district for Christmas, which means it wouldn’t have been possible to have the 50 percent turnout it took to pass the bills through roll call Thursday.
Since the Democrats control the House, it is likely that the $ 2,000 checks will be approved Monday and sent to the Republican Senate for consideration.
Pelosi urged Trump to sign the massive spending bill before Monday.
On Saturday, an estimated 12 million people will lose their unemployment benefits if the bill is not signed.
The stimulus bill would also introduce a new $ 300 weekly unemployment benefit and $ 284 billion in the Paycheck Protection Program provide forgivable loans to small businesses as local officials again order restaurants and bars to close.
The big bill combined COVID-19 aid and government funding for most of 2021. If no law is signed by December 29, the government will be partially shut down.