PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- Nobody is going to get a $2,000 stimulus payment anytime in the immediate future, despite the president asking Congress to pass the bill ASAP. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is blocking the vote.
Democrats have found an unlikely ally in a lame-duck president, and they are urging Republicans to follow Donald Trump. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he never thought he would see this happen.
"Democrats agree with something on President Trump’s Twitter feed. Let’s send $2,000 ASAP to working Americans who are facing the hardest and darkest days of the pandemic," he said on the Senate floor.
But the bill is going nowhere because McConnell will not bring the question of pandemic relief checks to a vote without tying them to two other items: repealing section 230 of the Communications Act, which protects digital platforms from lawsuits over content, and creating an advisory board for election integrity.
"Here’s the deal. The senate is not going to split apart the three issues President Trump linked together just because Democrats are afraid to address two of them," he said.
He also says most people simply don’t need the money.
"If specific struggling households need still more help after the huge, historic package that was signed into law four days ago has taken effect, then what they will need is smart, smart targeted aid," he said.
McConnell and other Republicans, including Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, say there’s no reason the government should be sending money to everyone, especially families that make six figures a year who haven’t really been impacted by the pandemic.