Senators will be back at it Wednesday as McConnell is devising a way out of the bind, but the outcome is uncertain.<\/b>
\nBy LISA MASCARO and JILL COLVIN WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump\u2019s push for bigger $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks stalled out Tuesday in the Senate as Republicans blocked a swift vote proposed by Democrats and split within their own ranks over whether to boost spending or defy the White House. The roadblock mounted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may not be sustainable as pressure mounts. Trump wants the Republican-led chamber to follow the House and increase the checks from $600 for millions of Americans. A growing number of Republicans, including two senators in runoff elections on Jan.5 in Georgia, have said they will support the larger amount. But most GOP senators oppose more spending, even if they are also wary of bucking Trump. Senators will be back at it Wednesday as McConnell is devising a way out of the political bind, but the outcome is highly uncertain. \u201cThere\u2019s one question left today: Do Senate Republicans join with the rest of America in supporting $2,000 checks?\u201d Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said as he made a motion to vote. The showdown has thrown Congress into a chaotic year-end session just days before new lawmakers are set to be sworn into office for the new year. It\u2019s preventing action on another priority \u2014 overturning Trump\u2019s veto on a sweeping defense bill that has been approved every year for 60 years. Saying little, McConnell signaled an alternative approach to Trump\u2019s checks that may not divide his party so badly, but may result in no action at all. The GOP leader filed new legislation late Tuesday linking the president\u2019s demand for bigger checks with two other Trump priorities \u2014 repealing protections for tech companies like Facebook or Twitter that the president complained are unfair to conservatives as well the establishment of a bipartisan commission to review the 2020 presidential election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden. \u201cThe Senate will begin a process,\u201d the GOP leader said. He said little more, only that he would bring the president\u2019s demand for the $2,000 checks and other remaining issues \u201cinto focus.\u201d The president\u2019s last-minute push for bigger checks leaves Republicans deeply split between those who align with Trump\u2019s populist instincts and those who adhere to what had been more traditional conservative views against government spending. Congress had settled on smaller $600 payments in a compromise over the big, year-end relief bill Trump reluctantly signed into law. Liberal senators led by Bernie Sanders of Vermont who support the relief aid are blocking action on the defense bill until a vote can be taken on Trump\u2019s demand for $2,000 for most Americans. \u201cThe working class of this country today faces more economic desperation than at any time since the Great Depression of the 1930s,\u201d Sanders said as he also tried to force a vote on the relief checks. \u201cWorking families need help now.\u201d But McConnell objected a second time. The GOP blockade is causing turmoil for some as the virus crisis worsens nationwide and Trump amplifies his unexpected demands. The two GOP senators from Georgia, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, announced Tuesday they support Trump\u2019s plan for bigger checks as they face Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate. \u201cI\u2019m delighted to support the president,\u201d said Perdue on Fox News. Loeffler said in an interview on Fox that she, too, backs the boosted relief checks. Trump repeated his demand in a tweet ahead of Tuesday\u2019s Senate session: \u201d$2000 for our great people, not $600!\u201d Following Trump\u2019s lead, Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Marco Rubio of Florida, among the party\u2019s potential 2024 presidential hopefuls, are pushing the party in the president\u2019s direction. \u201cWe\u2019ve got the votes. Let\u2019s vote today,\u201d Hawley tweeted. Other Republicans panned the bigger checks saying the nearly $400 billion price tag was too high, the relief is not targeted to those in need and Washington has already dispatched ample sums on COVID aid. \u201cWe\u2019ve spent $4 trillion on this problem,\u201d said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The House vote late Monday to approve Trump\u2019s request was a stunning turn of events. Just days ago, during a brief Christmas Eve session, Republicans blocked Trump\u2019s sudden demand for bigger checks as he defiantly refused to sign the broader COVID-19 aid and year-end funding bill into law. As Trump spent days fuming from his private club in Florida, where he is spending the holidays, millions of Americans saw jobless aid lapse and the nation risked a federal government shutdown Tuesday. Dozens of Republicans calculated it was better to link with Democrats to increase the pandemic payments rather than buck the outgoing president and constituents counting on the money. House Democrats led passage,275-134, but 44 Republicans joined almost all Democrats for a robust two-thirds vote of approval. It\u2019s highly possible that McConnell will set up votes ahead on both the House-passed measure supporting Trump\u2019s $2,000 checks as well as his own new version linking it with the repeal of tech company liability shield in \u201csection 230\u201d of communications law as well as the new presidential election review commission. That\u2019s a process that almost ensures neither bill will pass. Trump\u2019s push could fizzle out in the Senate but the debate over the size and scope of the package \u2014 $900 billion in COVID-19 aid and $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies \u2014 is potentially one last confrontation before the new Congress is sworn in Sunday. For now, the $600 checks are set to be delivered, along with other aid, among the largest rescue packages of its kind. The COVID-19 portion of the bill revives a weekly pandemic jobless benefit boost \u2014 this time $300, through March 14 \u2014 as well as the popular Paycheck Protection Program of grants to businesses to keep workers on payrolls. It extends eviction protections, adding a new rental assistance fund. Americans earning up to $75,000 will qualify for the direct $600 payments, which are phased out at higher income levels, and there\u2019s an additional $600 payment per dependent child. Biden supports the $2,000 checks and said Tuesday the aid package is merely a \u201cdown payment\u201d on what he plans to deliver once in office. Economists said a $600 check will help, but that it\u2019s a far cry from the spending power that a $2,000 check would provide for the economy. \u201cIt will make a big difference whether it\u2019s $600 versus $2,000,\u201d said Ryan Sweet, an economist with Moody\u2019s. The president also objected to foreign aid funding that his own administration had requested and vowed to send Congress \u201ca redlined version\u201d with spending items he wants removed. But those are merely suggestions to Congress. Democrats said they would resist such cuts. ___ Colvin reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Ashraf Khalil in Washington and Matt Ott in Silver Spring, Maryland, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n