Sign up for our special edition newsletter to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told fellow Republicans on a Wednesday afternoon call that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won’t succeed in her bid for unanimous consent to pass $2,000 COVID-19 stimulus checks on Thursday.
Pelosi’s proposed Christmas Eve vote would follow President Trump’s unexpected refusal Tuesday to sign a $2.3 trillion pandemic stimulus and government funding bill, saying its $600 stimulus checks should be $2,000.
Trump also objected to extraneous funding, including billions in foreign aid.
“House Democrats appear to be suffering from selective hearing,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) wrote in a Wednesday night letter to House Republicans.
“They have conveniently ignored the concerns expressed by the President, and shared by our constituents, that we ought to reexamine how our tax dollars are spent overseas while so many of our neighbors at home are struggling to make ends meet.”
McCarthy wrote that Republicans would offer a competing proposal for unanimous House action on Thursday — which is likely to be shot down by Democrats.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi EPA“Republicans will offer a unanimous consent request to revisit the State and Foreign Operations title of the Omnibus so that we can fully address the concerns at hand,” McCarthy wrote. “It will be up to Speaker Pelosi to decide if she wants to act on behalf of the American people.”
It’s unclear which Republican will object to the request from Pelosi (D-Calif.) for unanimous consent. It’s possible that McCarthy himself will object, noting Pelosi’s measure would not gut the just-passed package of its bloat.
In March, a sole Republican, libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, forced lawmakers to return in person to vote for the more than $2 trillion CARES Act, saying such bills should not pass by unanimous consent.
“F–k you!” an irate Democrat bellowed across the House floor when Massie objected.
Most legislators are in their home districts for Christmas, meaning the House likely cannot reach a 50 percent quorum to pass legislation by roll-call vote if a member objects to passing items by unanimous consent.
An estimated 12 million people will lose unemployment benefits Dec. 26 if Trump does not sign the $2.3 trillion package that overwhelmingly passed the House and Senate this week.
The bill would establish a new $300 weekly unemployment supplement and give $284 billion in Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loans to small businesses.
