Sanders says he will delay defense veto override in effort to get $2,000 stimulus checks
Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to delay the Senate’s defense bill veto override unless the chamber holds a vote on increasing stimulus payments to $2,000.
The coronavirus relief package signed Monday by President Donald Trump includes $600 in direct payments to most Americans. The president had previously called the bill a “disgrace” and demanded the checks be increased to $2,000.
On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the increase. The measure would need to pass the Senate, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has not yet said whether he will bring it for a vote.
Sanders, an independent from Vermont who ran for president this year, said on Twitter that “Congress will not be going home for New Year’s Eve” if McConnell doesn’t agree to hold a vote on increasing the payments.
The House voted Monday to override Trump’s veto of the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act. The Senate is set to hold an override vote Tuesday.
Warren Gunnels, Sanders’s staff director, tweeted that the senator will object to McConnell’s request for unanimous consent to override the veto until “we get a vote on $2,000 direct payments.”
“We can force the Senate to stay in session until the New Year,” Gunnels wrote. “This is no bluff.”
Sanders confirmed his plans to filibuster the override vote in a Monday interview with Politico.
The $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act is a sweeping bill that includes military pay raises and equipment modernization provisions, among other things, according to CNN.
Trump had said he would veto the bill because it didn’t include a repeal of Section 230, which protects internet companies from being held liable for what third parties post on their sites.
The bill initially passed the House and Senate with large enough majorities to override Trump’s veto, but it’s unclear if the support will hold as Republican lawmakers will be forced to choose between loyalty to the president and the legislation, CNN reports.
Filibusters of overrides are rare, Politico reports, and Sanders’s filibuster would only temporarily delay voting.
It’s also unclear if the Senate has enough votes to pass the increase in stimulus payments.
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 8:37 AM with the headline "Sanders says he will delay defense veto override in effort to get $2,000 stimulus checks."
