Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Less than a day after President Donald Trump signed the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package, the House passed a measure Monday to increase direct stimulus payments to Americans to $2,000 each from $600.
The legislation -- called the Caring for Americans with Supplemental Help, or CASH Act -- passed in a 275-134 floor vote brought by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Monday's vote sends the measure to the Republican-held Senate.
In a statement Sunday, House Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he was "glad the American people will receive this much-needed assistance" after Trump signed the bill that included the $600 payments.
But McConnell did not comment on the Senate taking up the $2,000 payment bill if passed by the House.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he planned to block a vote to override Trump's veto of a defense funding bill until the chamber votes on the stimulus measure.
"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," Sanders wrote on Twitter.
"I'm going to object until we get a vote on legislation to provide a $2,000 direct payment to the working class."
The newly signed relief measure, as it currently stands, provides only $600 payments to most Americans, but Trump delayed signing the bill for days over a multitude of complaints, including his desire to raise the amount to $2,000.
A bid by House Democrats on Thursday to get unanimous consent for the raised amount was blocked by House Republican leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, forcing Monday's vote.
"The signing of the bipartisan, bicameral coronavirus relief legislation is welcome news for the 14 million Americans who just lost the lifeline of unemployment benefits on Christmas weekend, and for the millions more struggling to stay afloat during this historic pandemic and economic crisis," Pelosi said in a statement Sunday.
"We need to ensure robust support for state and local government to distribute and administer a vaccine, keep workers employed and prevent devastating service cuts -- and we must do so as soon as possible.
"Now, the president must immediately call on congressional Republicans to end their obstruction and to join him and Democrats in support of our standalone legislation to increase direct payment checks to $2,000.
"Every Republican vote against this bill is a vote to deny the financial hardship that families face and to deny the American people the relief they need."
This time, the prospect of increasing the stimulus amount received more Republican support, as Rep. Tom Reed of New York, declared before the vote that he would support the increase.
"The American people are hurting," Reed, co-chair of the bipartisan "Problem Solvers" group of about 50 lawmakers, said in a statement.
"Economic stagnation and lockdowns have left many in difficult financial situations. I've communicated to the president my support for his directive to increase the total size of stimulus checks to $2,000 per individual and will be voting in favor of the CASH Act tomorrow to do so," the statement said.
The new round of stimulus payments will go to most Americans who earned less than $75,000 last year. The amount will gradually decrease by $5 for every $100 earned over the income threshold.
The president last week called the relief package and attached omnibus spending bill a "disgrace," even though Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was Trump's point man for months in the negotiations with House Democrats for what ultimately became the aid package.
The spending bill, like the relief measure, was also signed Sunday night and will fund the federal government until October.
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President Donald Trump
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Dr. Anthony Fauci (R), director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stands as Trump leaves a press briefing on the pandemic with members of the Coronavirus Task Force at the White House on March 26. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI |
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The casket containing the remains of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who
died on September 18 at age 87, is carried into the Supreme Court to lie in repose in Washington, D.C., on September 23. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI |
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Judge Amy Coney Barrett holds up a blank note pad on the second day of her
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Trump (L) arrives to introduce Barrett (R) as his Supreme Court nominee during a ceremony in the Rose Garden that
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Mark (L) and Patricia McCloskey
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Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a
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Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., adjusts his face mask as he arrives for a November 17 committee hearing on
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President Donald trump and first lady Melania Trump depart after addressing the third night of the
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Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris smiles during her
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President-elect Joe Biden (2nd R), his wife Jill Biden (R), Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (2nd L) and her husband Douglas Emhoff appear onstage after
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with the
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Thousands of protesters took to the streets for a second weekend demanding justice for the death of Floyd in Washington, D.C., on June 6. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI |
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Rodney Floyd (L) speaks during his brother
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Chandany Smith attends
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Black Lives Matter supporters argue with Trump supporters during a demonstration while the
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From left to right, Georgetown Law School Professor Paul Butler, Angela Underwood Jacobs, whose brother David Underwood, a Federal Protective Service officer, was shot and killed in Oakland, George Floyd's brother Philonise Floyd and civil rights attorney Ben Crump are sworn in during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on police brutality and racial profiling on June 10. A few days later, the Senate
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Proud Boys attack antifa demonstrators on the sidewalk following a Pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C., on December 12. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo
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Sandra Lindsay (L), a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is
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Harvey Weinstein arrives at Manhattan Court as jury selection continues in his sexual misconduct trial in New York City on January 13. Weinstein
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Sawyers with the Billings IA, a Bureau of Land Management Initial Attack crew based in Billings, Mont., take a brief respite before they continue to prepare a road for burnout operations at the
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The U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla., conducts an overflight to survey the damage
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