Hours before funding for the federal government was due to run out Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., joined forces on the Senate floor to push for stand-alone legislation to provide direct payments of $1,200 to working Americans.
As Congress headed toward passing another short-term government funding measure to give negotiators more time to sort out the details of a $900 billion Covid-19 relief bill, Sanders made another attempt Friday at securing $1,200 payments for adults and $500 for children.
While Schumer stood in support of the legislation, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., blocked the measure, arguing that the deficit is too high and that stimulus checks to all working Aemricans is a “shotgun approach.”
“I would hope very much that this Congress appreciates the pain that is out there and that instead of worrying about tax breaks for billionaires or corporate welfare, let’s pay attention to the needs of working families,” Sanders said after his proposal was shot down.
“Let us pass legislation which includes $1,200 direct payment to working class families, as we did in the CARES Act, 500 bucks to their kids and certainly not taking a nickel away from unemployment and the other important provisions that are currently being negotiated,” the junior senator from Vermont added.
Earlier in the day, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who has worked with Sanders over the past 10 days to secure another round of checks for Americans, made a similar motion on the Senate floor.
Johnson also stood in opposition to that proposal.
“The least this body can do is to provide direct relief to every working American who needs it,” Hawley said Friday. “Let’s send a message to working families that they’re first, not last. That they’re the most important consideration, not some afterthought.”
A week ago, Hawley and Sanders joined forces to push for a Senate floor vote on the direct payments, attempting to force senators who opposed the measure to go on the record.
The pressure from Sanders and other progressive lawmakers helped to secure a $600 payment to adults and children in the bipartisan $900 billion package.
The drama on the Senate floor unfolded as Congress worked on a deal to stave off a government shutdown that would go into effect at midnight.
Friday morning, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sounded hopeful that a compromise would be reached soon on the $900 billion economic package. McConnell said the American people have already “waited too long” for another round of Covid-19 relief.
Democrats have repeatedly blamed McConnell for refusing to take up the House-passed Heroes Act, which was sent to the upper chamber in May, or a subsequent slimmed down version that has been sitting on the leader of the Senate’s desk for months.
“The talks remain productive,” McConnel said. “I am even more optimistic now than I was last night that a bipartisan, bicameral framework for a major rescue package is very close at hand.”
“The Senate will be right here until an agreement is passed, whenever that may be,” he added.
But as the day progressed, that optimism diminished.
Half an hour before Sanders entered the Senate chamber to demand a vote on sending direct payments to all Americans, McConnell had a two-day, short-term government funding bill ready to go in order to avoid a government shutdown at midnight, Politico reported.
The House of Representatives also had a two-day funding bill ready and planned to move it Friday evening to prevent a shutdown.
Throughout the day, lawmakers worked on two packages: the $900 billion Covid-19 stimulus proposal and the mammoth $1.4 trillion government funding omnibus to keep the lights on through 2021.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., vice chair of the appropriations committee, said Friday that as of 1 a.m. he thought negotiations “were going great.” He was less certain at 7 a.m.
The senior senator, who has been part of the team working on the government funding bill, said that as of 1:30 p.m. Friday, the large spending package was 99.9% done. However, Leahy added that he was planning to be in session Saturday and Sunday while Republican and Democratic leaders finish up work on the Covid-19 bill.
Leahy blamed McConnell for holding out on negotiations in order to confirm another round of last minute judicial appointments.
“There is an increasing amount of frustration,” Leahy said. “This could have been done before and it is obvious that McConnell is stalling until we can get some more of these special interest judges through.”
While many issues in the Covid-19 stimulus package have been resolved, lawmakers continued to work through points of disagreement Friday — including the amount for stimulus checks and whether more money for that program meant diluting unemployment benefits.
As of Friday afternoon, the stimulus package under discussion included $600 stimulus checks for millions of Americans, unemployment benefits of $300 per week for 10 weeks, $330 billion in assistance for businesses, and millions of dollars for vaccine distribution, according to the Washington Post.
Leahy said Friday afternoon that while he would like to see the amount reach $1,200 for working adults, it seemed more likely to land in the $800-$900 range — around $200 more than Republicans initially agreed to.
“Nobody really took them seriously with their lower number,” Leahy said of the Republicans’ $600 stimulus check amount. “Everybody knew that would have to come up.”
While Sanders and Schumer are now pushing ahead for $1,200 direct payments, Republicans and moderate Democrats are arguing that more money in that program means cutting unemployment benefits.
Republican negotiators have looked at including language that would gradually phase out unemployment insurance over time, the Washington Post reported. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has also argued that increased direct payments will take away from the money for unemployment.
On the Senate floor Friday evening, Sanders said this must not happen.
“We need adequate funding to address the unprecedented crises that we face. We should not and cannot and must not take from Peter to pay Paul,” Sanders said.
“We have got to do it all, right now,” he said.
