Key GOP Sen. Graham calls for standalone vote on $2,000 Covid relief checks for Americans

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday joined Senate Democrats in calling for a standalone vote on $2,000 stimulus checks.

"If you had a standalone vote on the $2,000 check, it might pass," the South Carolina lawmaker said on the Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" show.

President Trump is pressing the Senate to increase $600 payments to Americans, which the House passed earlier this week, but most Senate Republicans have balked at doing so.

"I'm with the president on this," Graham said. "Our economy is hanging by a thread here in South Carolina."

On Monday, in a 275-134 vote with 44 Republicans voting in favor, the House passed a bill to provide $2,000 to Americans. Americans making up to $75,000 would receive direct payments of $2,000 – an increase from the $600 checks in the coronavirus relief package approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by Trump on Sunday night.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday introduced his own bill to provide $2,000 to Americans, but added calls for the repeal of Section 230, which grants liability protection to social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter, and to create a congressional committee to investigate the integrity of U.S. elections.

While McConnell refused to call up the bill for a Senate vote, on Tuesday he signaled he might package the $2,000 checks with a repeal of a tech liability shield and an election-related investigation.

"The president highlighted three additional issues of national significance he would like to see Congress tackle together," McConnell said. "Those are the three important subjects the president has linked together. This week the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus," he added.

At least four Republican senators quickly expressed support for the House bill.

But on Thursday, McConnell blocked a third effort by Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) to try to get a standalone vote on the House-passed bill.

McConnell called the House bill "socialism for rich people."

"Our colleagues who purport to be the champions of vulnerable Americans now say that what struggling people really need is for Congress to stop focusing on targeted relief for them specifically and to instead send thousands of dollars to people who don't need help," he said from the Senate floor. "We do not need to let the speaker of the House do socialism for rich people in order to help those who need help."

Graham, though, said the new Congress, which begins at noon on Jan. 3, might take up the matter. Two Senate races in Georgia will decide who controls the upper chamber.

"The new Congress, you could get a vote," Graham said. "I'd like a stand-alone vote in the new Congress on the $2,000 check."