House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday (Dec. 24) that she will call House members on Monday for a recorded vote on the $2,000 relief check requested by President Trump (R-Texas).
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday (Dec. 24) that she will call House members on Monday for a recorded vote on the $2,000 relief check requested by President Trump (R-Texas).
Pelosi said in a statement Thursday, “Next Monday, I will convene the House of Representatives for a recorded vote on our stand-alone bill to increase the amount of the direct payment relief check to $2,000.”
She added, “Those who voted against the bill (are) ignoring the economic hardships facing (American) families and disregarding the relief they need.”
On Monday, Congress passed an omnibus spending package, a bill President Trump criticized on Tuesday, saying more money was going to foreign countries and lobbyists than was being provided to the American people.
Bipartisan House Rejects Opposition’s Request for “Unopposed Passage
On Thursday, House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) filed an Unanimous Consent request to send $2,000 relief checks to Americans, but did not address Trump’s request to remove foreign aid from the bill. from the bill. The request was opposed by Republicans.
On the other hand, Republican Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Okla.) made a request to reevaluate foreign aid in light of the president’s public comments on Tuesday.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told Republicans Wednesday night that they will file a request to reexamine foreign aid for 2021.
“It is easy for House Democrats to ignore the concerns expressed by the president and for our constituents to share in (the consequences) that we should re-examine how tax dollars are being spent overseas and that many of our people at home are still struggling to make ends meet,” McCarthy wrote in a letter to House members.
McCarthy wrote that Republicans will therefore make a request for “unopposed passage” to re-examine foreign aid so that we can adequately address the concerns at hand. Speaker Pelosi will decide whether to act on behalf of the American people.
Democrats also oppose the Republican “unopposed” request.
House rules authorize leaders of either party to oppose the other’s “unopposed” request, but the rules allow for a roll call vote on the bill.
Pelosi calls on Trump to persuade Republicans to support $2,000 check, but does not mention revisiting foreign aid
Pelosi, meanwhile, called on President Trump to persuade Republican lawmakers not to block the direct payments to Americans measure.
“Republican House members are cruelly depriving the president of the $2,000 payment he agreed to give Americans,” Pelosi wrote, “and if the president is serious about the $2,000 direct payment, he must call on House Republicans to end the obstruction.”
Pelosi said Democrats have been pressing for larger direct payments to American families, but “House and Senate Republicans have repeatedly refused; first, in our negotiations, they said the amount would not exceed $600, and now that relentlessness continues to spread endlessly through the House.”
She said she hopes the president will “sign bipartisan and bicameral legislation by next Monday to keep the government open and provide coronavirus (CCA) relief.”
President Trump expressed his displeasure with unnecessary foreign aid on Tuesday (22) when he revealed a possible veto of the stimulus and spending bill, “It’s a disgrace. Take this 5,000-page bill that no one in Congress has read because of its length and complexity. It is called the COVID (Chinese Communist Virus) Relief Act, but it has almost nothing to do with COVID (Chinese Communist Virus). This bill contains $85.5 million for aid to Cambodia, $134 million for aid to Burma, and $1.3 billion for aid to Egypt and the Egyptian military.” The president said the Egyptian military is going to buy “almost all Russian military equipment.” He said.
Trump also complained that large amounts of money are being apportioned to agencies that seem unrelated to the U.S. fight against the Chinese Communist virus.
Pelosi plans to vote down Trump’s veto of the NDAA on Monday
In addition to voting on direct payments, the House will also vote to override Trump’s veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Trump vetoed the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act bill on Wednesday.
In a veto statement, Trump said, “Unfortunately, the bill fails to include critical national security measures, contains provisions that disrespect our veterans and military history, and contradicts my administration’s efforts to put America in the driver’s seat of national security and foreign policy operations.”
He added, “This (the current version of the bill) is a ‘gift’ to China (Communist Party of China) and Russia.”
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