House to vote today on $2,000 direct payments after Trump signs COVID relief

The House of Representatives on Monday will vote on a bill to send $2,000 stimulus checks to Americans in lieu of the $600 checks included in the coronavirus stimulus and government funding package President Trump signed Sunday night.

The vote will come after Trump for the better part of a week railed against the size of the checks and the amount of foreign aid included in the massive combination of two legislative accords that lawmakers sent to his desk.

The Monday vote won’t address the “pork” that Trump has said he wishes to cut — despite the fact he requested much of it in his budget. But it will force GOP House members to go on the record on whether to increase the price tag on the stimulus checks after the president demanded they do so.

“I simply want to get our great people $2000, rather than the measly $600 that is now in the bill,” Trump said in a tweet Saturday.

“Now, the President must immediately call on Congressional Republicans to end their obstruction and to join him and Democrats in support of our stand-alone legislation to increase direct payment checks to $2,000, which will be brought to the Floor tomorrow,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Sunday night.

Trump signing the stimulus, however, is just one step that needs to happen if Democrats’ effort for $2,000 checks is to succeed. It will still need to clear the GOP-controlled Senate and later be signed by the president. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said, “I would be surprised if we dealt with it” if Democrats managed to pass a bill for $2,000.

Plus, the fact that Trump signed the stimulus into law may take pressure off Republicans in both the House and the Senate to vote for the boosted checks, allowing them to stick to their guns on keeping the size of the relief package under control. The government is now funded for the next year, crucial benefits helping Americans through the pandemic are renewed and $600 checks will be on the way even if the $2,000 checks don’t pass.