Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has been one of the loudest proponents of increasing the direct cash payment amount Americans receive in the second Wuhan coronavirus relief bill. He has a plan to make sure that his Republican colleagues in the Senate vote to increase the amounts, just as the House of Representatives did Monday evening.
The senator took to Twitter to say he would object to overriding President Donald Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) until the Senate votes on increasing payments for working-class families. The House overrode the president's veto Monday, shortly after they passed their bill to increase direct cash payments from $600 per person to $2,000 per person. The House's vote to override the veto is the first time it has happened during the Trump administration.
At a time when so many people are facing economic desperation, the $600 direct payment is a step forward – but it's not enough. We need to increase that direct payment to $2000. Biden wants it, Trump wants it, Pelosi wants it, Schumer wants it. Now, Congress must vote to do it.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 28, 2020
This week on the Senate floor Mitch McConnell wants to vote to override Trump's veto of the $740 billion defense funding bill and then head home for the New Year.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 28, 2020
I'm going to object until we get a vote on legislation to provide a $2,000 direct payment to the working class.
Sanders has been working alongside his Republican colleague, Josh Hawley (MO), to get the direct cash payment amount upped from the $600 Congress had originally agreed to this time around. The duo proposed another round of direct payments that were the same as in March when the CARES Act authorized $1,200 per individual or $2,400 for married couples as well as $500 per child.
Whether or not Republicans in the Senate will vote to increase direct cash payments is still unclear.
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