Today, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand released the following statement calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow the Senate to vote on House-passed legislation to deliver $2,000 direct payment checks to Americans facing economic hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic:
“Yesterday, the House passed bipartisan legislation to send $2,000 direct payment checks to Americans weathering an unprecedented public health and financial crisis. Now, the Senate must do the same. Along with every Senate Democrat, several Republicans senators support these emergency checks, which will provide a crucial lifeline to millions of American families, who are struggling to keep food on the table and make ends meet. Leader McConnell must end the obstruction and let the Senate vote to deliver this much-needed relief to American families.”
Background:
Throughout relief package negotiations, Senator Gillibrand has pressed for the inclusion of robust direct payments. As noted in a December 29 Washington Post column, “If not for progressives such as independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and both Democratic senators of Massachusetts and Oregon (who wanted $1,200 checks), there would not be any direct payments in the bill at all.”