McConnell: Standalone bill on $2,000 checks has "no realistic path to quickly pass Senate"
30 December 2020
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Wednesday he does not see a "realistic path to quickly pass" a House-approved standalone measure for $2,000 stimulus checks, despite calls from President Trump for increased payments.
Why it matters: The move effectively kills any pathway to pass the bill before the end of the the 116th Congress.
What he's saying: McConnell said he has no intention of splitting apart a broader package that combines the checks with Trump's other demands on an election fraud commission and the repeal of legal protections for tech companies — two no-gos for Democrats.
- "The Senate is not going to split apart the three issues that President Trump linked together just because Democrats are afraid to address two of them," the leader said from the Senate floor.
- "The Senate is not going to be bullied to rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats' rich friends that don't need the help," he added.
Between the lines: Trump has been at war with McConnell for days over the president and Democrats' push to raise stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000.
- Earlier this week, 44 House Republicans joined the majority of Democrats to pass the House's standalone measure.
- Some Republicans have coalesced around Trump's bid for increased checks, including Georgia Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who have runoff elections next week.
- Fellow GOP Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) have also publicly supported the raise.
Go deeper: Trump slams McConnell for blocking vote on $2,000 stimulus checks
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.