When President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Republicans must approve $2,000 coronavirus relief checks or die, many observers heard an attack on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Trump was after all responding on Twitter to news that McConnell had blocked an immediate vote on boosting the $600 direct payments in latest coronavirus relief law — a change the president has demanded.
- And it wouldn’t be the first time Trump went after McConnell.
The subtext: Beneath the fiery rhetoric, however, some reporters noted that Trump was actually echoing McConnell’s position that the $2,000 checks aren’t a standalone issue.
- In shooting down the Senate vote on the checks hours earlier, McConnell instead introduced his own bill that combines the bigger checks with two of the president’s other demands: election security and the removal of legal protections for social media platforms.
Tables, turned: By linking all three measures, Trump and McConnell appeared to have turned the tables on the Democrats.
Here’s how: Trump first issued the three demands last Tuesday, saying Congress should have included them in a $2.3 trillion bipartisan relief and spending package passed that day.
- He signed the bill on Sunday, and thereby averted a government shutdown, saying Congress had agreed to address his demands.
The Democrats immediately took up the cause of the $2,000 checks to try to force Republicans into a corner: Either vote with them on additional relief spending or defy the president, who is beloved by their voters.
- Senate Democrats’ failed push for a vote on Tuesday came a day after the Democratic-controlled House advanced a bill providing for the more generous checks.
- “If this country means anything, if the U.S. government means anything, it means that we cannot turn our backs on that suffering, and that we cannot leave Washington for the holidays to go back to our families unless we address the pain and anxiety of other families throughout this country,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, during his Senate floor fight for the vote on the checks.
Now, however, it is the Democrats who face a difficult choice: Either vote against the $2,000 checks — which they have all but called a life-or-death matter — or swallow the additional demands by Trump and McConnell — which many in the party views as poison pills.
- Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer indicated in a statement on Tuesday that his party would not consider McConnell’s combo-deal.
- “[McConnell’s bill] will not pass the House and cannot become law,” Schumer said. “Any move like this by Senator McConnell would be a blatant attempt to deprive Americans of a $2,000 survival check.”
McConnell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
