Wisconsin GOP senator blocks Hawley’s proposal for direct aid to individuals, families
A fellow Republican from the Midwest blocked Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s motion Friday to pass a provision for direct COVID-19 aid to individuals and families.
Hawley, a first-term GOP senator, moved to pass legislation that would send out $1,200 federal aid checks to most individual tax filers and $2,400 to couples who file jointly.
Families would receive an additional $500 per child under the proposal, which is identical to language passed by Congress in an aid package earlier this year.
But Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson objected to Hawley’s motion, which required unanimous consent, blocking the bill.
Johnson’s objection, however, doesn’t close the debate on direct aid to families and individuals. Congressional leaders continue to hold negotiations on proposals for additional relief before the end of the year.
Hawley, a conservative Republican and potential candidate for the presidency in 2024, has partnered on the push for direct aid with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist who lost the Democratic primary to President-elect Joe Biden.
Hawley said Sanders would come to the floor later on Friday to make the same motion. Sanders’ motion, like Hawley’s, is unlikely to succeed, but it will keep the issue of direct aid in the spotlight as the two seek to amend their legislation into a larger package.
A bipartisan proposal would spend more than $900 billion on various aid programs, but the $600 checks to individuals would be only half the amount proposed by Hawley and Sanders. The senators have floated blocking passage of a continuing resolution to fund the federal government before a midnight deadline as a potential tactic to force consideration of their legislation.
Hawley pointed to families behind on their rent and requiring food assistance as COVID-19 has rocked the economy as the reason direct aid should be an essential component of the relief bill as Congress is also looking to bail out businesses and fund vaccine distribution.
“It should be the first thing that we could do,” Hawley said on the Senate floor. “As these negotiations drag on and on, fixated and focused and hung up on who knows what issues. Let’s start with this. Let’s send a message to working families that they are first, not last, that they are the most important consideration, not some afterthought.”
Johnson complained that aid needed to be more targeted at this point in the pandemic. He said that both Hawley’s bill and the larger proposal use a “shotgun approach” to relief.
“I not only object to what Sen. Hawley is proposing here, but I’m certainly lodging my objection to what’s barreling through here. The train has left the station on the package that’s being negotiated right now that is way too big,” Johnson said.
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 12:00 PM.
