Senate Democrats are planning to send another stimulus check to many Americans, saying that it will be one of their top priorities after the members of the chamber are established.
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) promised in a letter on Tuesday to undertake a “bold legislation.”
“As you know from our work at the end of the last Congress, the job of COVID emergency relief is far from complete. Democrats wanted to do much more in the last bill and promised to do more, if given the opportunity, to increase direct payments to a total of $2,000—we will get that done,” Schumer wrote.
“As soon as the new Senate is organized and Vice-President Harris has been sworn in, we will immediately set to work to deliver on that goal. As our first order of legislative business, please prepare to address additional COVID emergency relief legislation,” Schumer stated.
Schumer also said that with working President-elect Joe Biden and the House Democrats, they will focus on the health care system, immigration, democracy, and criminal justice reforms.
President Donald Trump consistently supported having the stimulus bill passed and criticized the package that Democrats were proposing, in particular, the foreign aid payments.
“$85.5 million for assistance to Cambodia, $134 million to Burma, $1.3 billion for Egypt and the Egyptian military which will go out and buy almost exclusively Russian military equipment,” said Trump in response to the $600 payments that Congress took months to negotiate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-Ky.) blocked unanimous consent on Dec. 29 for a revised bill that would increase the stimulus checks to $2,000.
On Jan. 2, McConnell’s house in Louiseville was vandalized, apparently in retaliation for the blocking of the bill.
Spray paint on his front door read, “Weres [sic] my money,” while “Mitch Kills the Poor” was scrawled over a window.
“I’ve spent my career fighting for the First Amendment and defending peaceful protest. I appreciate every Kentuckian who has engaged in the democratic process whether they agree with me or not,” Sen. McConnell said in a statement in response to the vandalism.“This is different. Vandalism and the politics of fear have no place in our society.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco house was also vandalized on Jan. 1. Written on the garage door was the messages “2k,” “cancel rent!” “We want everything,” and “UBI!” an apparent reference to universal basic income. An “A” inside of a circle, a symbol commonly attributed to the anarchist movement, was also written there.
