(LEX 18) — After President Donald Trump signed a stimulus bill, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the CASH Act - voting to increase direct payments to most Americans from $600 to $2,000.
This increase is something House Democrats wanted, and for this vote, they had President Donald Trump's blessing. He instructed lawmakers to raise the amount after finding an issue with the $900 billion relief package lawmakers had passed last week.
"As President, I have told Congress that I want far less wasteful spending and more money going to the American people in the form of $2,000 checks per adult and $600 per child," Trump said in a statement Sunday. "I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more."
Democrats didn't waste any time. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, brought increasing stimulus payments to the floor for a vote on Monday.
"The President of the United States has put this forth as something that he wants to see in terms of him signing the legislation yesterday," she said before the vote. "I hope that view will be shared by the Republicans in the Senate because we will pass this bill today."
The matter passed 275-134.
Democrats voted 231-2. Republicans voted 44-130, and Independents voted 0-2.
The CASH Act now goes to the U.S. Senate, where its future is unclear. Kentucky's Senator Mitch McConnell controls what bills get discussed on the floor, and he has not indicated whether he'll put the CASH Act up for a vote.
If the CASH Act passes the Senate, the overall cost of the stimulus bill will go from $900 billion to $1.36 trillion, according to House data released on Monday. However, as things stand currently, most Americans who make up to $75,000 will only get $600.
