WASHINGTON - Only two House Democrats on Monday voted against boosting COVID-19 benefit checks from $600 to $2,000 for eligible adults, and one of them was U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., who is winding up his final term in Congress.
The measure sailed through the Democratic House on a 275-134 roll call after President Donald Trump threatened last week to not sign the $900 billion pandemic relief bill unless Congress enhanced the payments.
The legislation Trump signed on Sunday night did not increase the size of the checks. Democrats jumped on Trump’s call for more cash with the House voting on the higher figure on Monday.
Lipinski was joined by U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Oregon, in voting no.
Forty-four Republicans joined 231 Democrats to approve the measure, which faces an uncertain future in the GOP Senate.
Two GOP House members from Illinois - U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis and Adam Kinzinger - were part of the 44 voting to increase the payments to $2,000.
Voting against the extra payments were GOP Reps. Mike Bost, Darin LaHood and John Shimkus.
Shimkus is also in his final days in office. Lipinski lost his primary to Rep.-elect Marie Newman, D-Ill., and Shimkus decided not to run again.
Lipinski voted for the overall COVID relief bill Trump signed. He said in a statement he did not approve the larger payment “because we cannot continue to endlessly dig our national debt hole deeper.”
He said some “deficit spending during this pandemic is absolutely necessary ... But this does not mean we do not have to consider what we are spending and what debt we are passing onto future generations.”
Newman said in a statement, “In less than a week, Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District will have a Representative that knows damn well that a $600 stimulus check is not nearly enough to support American families who continue to struggle every single day due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
DEFENSE BILL OVERRIDE
There were 109 House Republicans who broke with Trump to override his veto of the bill funding the Defense Department, including, all five from Illinois: Bost, Davis, Kinzinger, LaHood and Shimkus.
There were 20 Democrats who voted to uphold Trump’s veto, including only one Illinois House Democrat, Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.
