WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday that the Senate would not move quickly to consider a bill from the House of Representatives that would raise direct coronavirus relief payments to Americans from $600 to $2,000.
McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor that the stand-alone House bill, which sought to meet President Donald Trump’s demands for bigger relief checks, “has no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate.”
With a new U.S. Congress due to be sworn into office in just a few days, McConnell’s remark suggested the legislation that passed the House on Monday will simply expire.
(Corrects time element to Wednesday, not Thursday)
(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
