Senator Mitch McConnell has made vague assurances that the Senate will "begin a process of debating controls and two other issues" that the president has asked lawmakers to address.
Senator Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked an attempt by Democrats to hold an immediate vote to increase stimulus checks from $ 600 to $ 2,000. The fate of the move was unclear as President Trump continued to demand larger payments and more Republicans publicly supported the idea.
Mr. McConnell did not say whether he intended to hold a separate vote on the three subjects or whether he would put tem to a vote in the Senate at all. As evidence of how he handled these issues, the majority leader introduced new laws on Tuesday afternoon that combined $ 2,000 in checks, election security and social media systems into a single bill, which would likely cause the effort to fail.
Sudden talk of electoral security complicates matters as Mr. Trump continues to claim without evidence that election fraud has cost him his reelection. There is no doubt that Democrats will oppose anything that could be seen as an attempt to undermine the election result.
McConnell, who specifically urged conference members not to veto the election results when Congress met to approve them on January 6, submitted the president's request "to explore other ways to protect the sanctity of American ballot papers." Mr McConnell’s bill would create a bipartisan commission to investigate electoral practices that “enhance” and “undermine” election integrity, such as the use of postal ballot papers and mail-in voting procedures, which Trump has criticized baselessly for promoting election fraud. .
McConnell's move came as he faced mounting pressure from Republicans to increase stimulus payments to struggling Americans.
The current Senate legislature has only five days to operate. The chamber's failure to take immediate action angered Trump, who criticized lawmakers in his party.
Trump wrote on Twitter: "If Republicans have no wish to die, that is true, they should agree to pay $ 2,000 as soon as possible." $ 600 is not enough!
The vast majority of Republican senators have long opposed the idea of tighter oversight of the stimulus, raising concerns about its cost and effectiveness. But that position has been undermined, after Trump held a $ 900 billion stimulus package and government spending hostage for days, and insisted lawmakers triple direct payments from $ 600 to $ 2,000.
The House of Representatives voted Monday night to increase the level of stimulus checks to $ 2,000, prompting Republican senators to either approve the largest amount or challenge Mr. Trump.
But McConnell on Tuesday thwarted an attempt by New York Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, to force an immediate vote on key controls with a procedural tactic that allows senators to legislate unless another senator objects.
Democrats, who have long called for more direct payments, have tried to use the issue as a political component in Georgia's run-off election. Both John Usoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, who confront Mrs. Loeffler and Mr. Purdue, called for higher incentive measures, criticized the $ 600 amount as insufficient, and rebuked their opponents for failing to get them to pump more money into Georgia's pockets. stuck.
**from the new york times website**
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