Last updated on January 17th, 2021 at 07:55 am
Speaker Pelosi said that if Trump is serious about $2,000 stimulus checks he needs to tell Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy so the House can pass it with unanimous consent.
Speaker Pelosi wrote in a letter to her colleagues provided to PoliticusUSA:
Just when you think you have seen it all, last night, the President said that he would possibly veto the bicameral agreement negotiated between Republicans and Democrats. He said he would do so, unless the economic impact payments were increased to $2,000.
In the bipartisan negotiations, Leader Schumer and I repeatedly asked Republicans what would be the highest number the President would accept for direct payments, and they responded with Sphinx-like silence. In the negotiations, they would never go above $600 and in some cases, proposed $500.
Yesterday, I said that Democrats would go to the Floor and ask for Unanimous Consent to bring up a standalone bill to increase the payments. To do so requires the agreement of the Republican Leader. This agreement is necessary in the House and in the Senate.
If the President truly wants to join us in $2,000 payments, he should call upon Leader McCarthy to agree to our Unanimous Consent request.
We are scheduled to go in for a pro forma session tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. We are awaiting word from Leader Hoyer as to whether Leader McCarthy will agree to or reject our Unanimous Consent request.
The entire country knows that it is urgent for the President to sign this bill, both to provide the coronavirus relief and to keep government open.
Trump wants credit for a package that he had nothing to do with negotiating. Trump has checked out of governing according to White House staffers and is spending his time huddled up with Mike Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell engaging in wild conspiracy theories and desperate bids to hold on to power.
Trump is trying to punish Republicans for not supporting his bid to overturn the election, but the only thing that he accomplished was giving Speaker Pelosi all the leverage she needs to pass real pandemic relief.
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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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