WASHINGTON, DC–December 29th, 2020 (Daily Mail)–President Donald Trump has backed Bernie Sanders’ plans to filibuster and force the Senate to sit until the new year if a vote is not held on a bill passed by the House to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600.
$2000 for our great people, not $600! They have suffered enough from the China Virus!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2020
Sanders announced his intentions on Monday to slow down the Senate’s vote on overriding the president’s veto of a huge defense bill unless Senate leaders agree to hold a vote on increasing the amount given to Americans in coronavirus relief funds.
In response to a tweet reporting Sanders’ plans and in apparent support of them, the President wrote: ‘Give the people $2000, not $600. They have suffered enough!’
Senator Sanders announced his plans on Monday to object to the overriding of the president’s veto of the $740 billion the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
A spokesman for Sanders also confirmed that he will object to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) setting up a vote on the veto override of the bill until the proposed aid increase is voted on.
‘This week on the Senate floor Mitch McConnell wants to vote to override Trump’s veto of the $740 billion defense funding bill and then head home for the New Year,’ Sanders tweeted Monday.
‘I’m going to object until we get a vote on legislation to provide a $2,000 direct payment to the working class.’
While Sanders cannot ultimately prevent the Senate from voting on whether to override Trump’s veto of the defense bill, McConnell will likely be forced to break a rare filibuster of the veto override efforts.
This will force the bill to overcome a 60-vote procedural hurdle and delay the final vote on Trump’s veto until later this week.
The NDAA initially passed the Senate earlier this month with a 84-13 majority – with Sanders voting against it at the time. The veto override requires a two-thirds vote in order to pass the Senate.
Sanders also received support from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) who said he would similarly slow down the defense bill with the hopes of increasing the amount given to Americans as part of the $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief package.
‘I will be joining @BernieSanders in blocking the defense bill until we get a vote on $2000 in direct cash relief. That relief passed in the House today with 44 Republicans voting for it. Senate Republicans must do the same and get the American people the help they need,’ Markey tweeted.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is expected to attempt to bring the House-passed bill to the Senate on Tuesday, but because it would only take a single senator to block his request, he is unlikely to succeed.
The House of Representatives passed a bill Monday evening that would increase Americans’ stimulus checks to $2,000 – something President Donald Trump has also demanded.
Democrats used a fast-track procedure to get the bill through, meaning two-thirds of the House needed to sign on.
All but two House Democrats who voted Monday were joined by 44 Republicans to get the bill through, with the final vote total being 275 yeas to 134 nays.
Twenty-one lawmakers didn’t vote.
After the House of Representatives passed the $2,000 bill, Sanders said he would hold up the expected veto override of the National Defense Authorization Act in order to get it across the line in the Senate.
‘I’m going to object until we get a vote on legislation to provide a $2,000 direct payment to the working class,’ Sanders said.
Now the bill’s fate is in the Senate’s hands – where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not been openly supportive.
On Sunday night when Trump signed the giant spending and COVID-19 stimulus bill – after flirting with vetoing it for several days – he repeated his demand for Americans to receive $2,000 checks, instead or the $600 payments outlined in the legislation.
