GOP Senator Hawley introduces bill to give $1,200 COVID payments to all Americans

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley on Thursday proposed legislation to give direct $1,200 coronavirus relief payments to all Americans and families.

Congress last approved such payments in March, but since then has debated another installment. As Election Day neared, Republicans and Democrats refused to compromise, as many Americans continued to struggle financially in the pandemic that began in March.

"Americans need direct payments now. Families are struggling. Unemployment claims are rising and food lines are growing. It’s time Congress finally acts," Hawley said in a statement. "Direct payments should be at the center of any Covid relief legislation that Congress passes. If Congress doesn’t pass relief legislation with direct payments in it by next week, I will go to the Senate floor to demand a vote on my legislation," he added.

Hawley's bill calls for direct payments of $1,200 to all Americans and $2,400 to families, plus $500 per children. In April, after the $2.2 trillion CARES Act was passed in March, some 80 million Americans in April received checks.

Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reportedly informed the Trump administration that they support $600 stimulus checks for Americans in any new COVID-19 stimulus package.

McCarthy said he and McConnell backed the stimulus checks now included in the White House’s $916 billion compromise measure, Axios reported. The liberal-leaning political website said the inclusion of the checks was discussed Tuesday among McCarthy, McConnell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

McConnell has opposed the checks for Americans and did not include them in a framework he released last week.

But on Wednesday, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected the White House's $916 billion COVID-19 stimulus package plan that included those $600 direct payments to millions of Americans.

“While it is progress that [GOP] Leader [Mitch] McConnell has signed off on a $916 billion offer that is based off of the bipartisan framework, the president’s proposal must not be allowed to obstruct the bipartisan congressional talks that are underway," the Democratic leaders said in a joint statement.

"Members of the House and Senate have been engaged in good-faith negotiations and continue to make progress. The bipartisan talks are the best hope for a bipartisan solution," the leaders added. "The president’s proposal starts by cutting the unemployment insurance proposal being discussed by bipartisan members of the House and Senate from $180 billion to $40 billion. That is unacceptable."

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of senators last week called for $908 billion in COVID-19 relief, but that bill also did not include checks for Americans.

That bill would deliver another $160 billion to states and cities and $180 billion for unemployment insurance, two issues Democrats have pushed hard. The unemployment benefits would pay $300 per week for 18 weeks, retroactive to Dec. 1, which is half of what was included in the CARES Act passed in March.

The proposal would also set aside $288 billion for assistance to small businesses via the Paycheck Protection Program.

In addition, the bill would free up $45 billion for transportation-related industries such as airlines and $16 billion for development of a COVID-19 vaccine development. Another $182 billion would be used for healthcare provider relief fund, education, student loans, housing assistance, nutrition, and agriculture programs and the U.S. Postal Service.