The House, which voted on Monday evening to increase the size of individual stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600, is now pushing to advance a vote on the measure in the Senate, daring Senate Republicans to either approve the heftier sum or defy President Trump, whose demand for bigger checks nearly scuttled the entire stimulus package.
The House vote, which just reached the two-thirds majority needed to pass, came a day after Mr. Trump finally signed off on a $900 billion pandemic relief package he initially denounced as a “disgrace” and refused to sign, unexpectedly demanding that lawmakers more than triple the direct payments.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said on Monday after the vote that he would attempt to quickly pass the bill on the Senate floor on Tuesday, using a procedural tactic that allows lawmakers to advance legislation unless another senator objects.
“Every Senate Democrat is for this much-needed increase in emergency financial relief, which can be approved tomorrow if no Republican blocks it,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement. “There is no good reason for Senate Republicans to stand in the way.”
The legislation, which passed by a vote of 275 to 134, was supported by 44 Republican members.
In signing the relief bill on Sunday night, Mr. Trump claimed in a statement that the Senate would “start the process for a vote” on legislation that would increase direct payments and pledged that “much more money is coming.”
But it is unclear whether the Senate will entertain such a measure. Senate Republicans have resisted increasing the payments, citing concerns about the federal budget deficit, and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, in a statement on Sunday made no mention of the $2,000 payments or any of the president’s assertions about the next steps for the chamber he controls.
Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, said in an interview on Monday night that he would object to any effort to hold a crucial vote to override a Trump military bill or adjourn for the New Year’s holiday without a vote on expanded stimulus checks.
Republican lawmakers in the House were visibly frustrated with Mr. Trump’s demand. Some of the president’s closest allies, including Representatives Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican, and Jim Jordan of Ohio, voted against the measure, and Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, complained on the House floor that the proposal had been “hastily dropped on us at the last minute” and wouldn’t assist those who needed it most.
“I worry that this whopping $463 billion won’t do what’s needed, stimulate the economy or help workers get back to work,” Mr. Brady said.
On Monday night, however, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, announced his support for the $2,000 payment, but whether that would shift the dynamics remains unclear.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to fault the current pace of vaccine distribution under the Trump administration in remarks to be delivered in Delaware on Tuesday, and he will discuss his own plan to get Americans vaccinated as fast as possible, according to a transition official.
The president-elect is scheduled to speak about the coronavirus pandemic in the afternoon after receiving a briefing from his Covid-19 advisory team. His appearance comes with just over three weeks until he will take office amid a crisis that has already killed more than 335,000 people in the United States.
Also on Tuesday, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is scheduled to receive her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. She will receive her shot on camera, just as Mr. Biden did last week. Ms. Harris’s husband, Douglas Emhoff, will also be vaccinated on Tuesday.
Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris are preparing to take office at a time of widespread personal suffering and economic disruption as a result of the virus. But the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna has provided a sign of hope for taming the spread of the virus, albeit not before many more grim weeks.
President Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic was at the center of Mr. Biden’s argument to voters about why they should deny him a second term, and soon, it would be up to Mr. Biden to begin steering the country through the continuing health crisis.
The president-elect has already offered a preview of what to expect, stressing the importance of wearing masks, promising to follow scientific expertise and calling for additional economic relief beyond the $900 billion stimulus package that Mr. Trump signed into law on Sunday.
Mr. Biden has vowed to get at least 100 million vaccine shots into the arms of Americans in his first 100 days in office, and he has said that getting children back in the classrooms should be a priority for the nation.
Speaking last week in Delaware, Mr. Biden nonetheless offered a sober warning about what lies ahead.
“One thing I promise you about my leadership during this crisis: I’m going to tell it to you straight,” he said. “I’m going to tell you the truth. And here’s the simple truth: Our darkest days in the battle against Covid are ahead of us, not behind us.”
The House voted on Monday to override President Trump’s veto of the annual military policy bill, mustering bipartisan support to enact the legislation over the president’s objections and handing him a rare legislative rebuke in the final days of his presidency.
The 322-to-87 vote is the first time a chamber of Congress has agreed to override one of Mr. Trump’s vetoes, underscoring the sweeping popularity of the military legislation, which authorizes a pay raise for the nation’s troops. It also amounted to a remarkable reprimand over the president’s decision to flout one of his party’s key orthodoxies — projecting military strength — from Republicans who have been reluctant to challenge Mr. Trump during his four years in office.
The margin by which the legislation originally surpassed the two-thirds majority needed in both houses to force enactment of the bill over Mr. Trump’s objections. The Senate will take up the legislation later in the week, and it is expected to pass.
“The president has exercised his constitutional prerogative. Now, Madam Speaker, it’s up to us,” Representative Mac Thornberry of Texas, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said in remarks before the vote. “Our troops, the country, indeed, the world is watching to see what we will do — whether we can tune out other differences and still come together to support the men and women of the military and American national security.”
Congress has succeeded in passing the military bill each year for 60 years, with lawmakers relishing the opportunity to assert their support for national security and bring home wins to their constituents.
But Mr. Trump, making good on a monthslong series of threats, vetoed the bipartisan legislation on Wednesday, citing a shifting list of reasons including his objection to a provision directing the military to strip the names of Confederate leaders from bases. He also demanded that the bill include the repeal of a legal shield for social media companies that he has tangled with, a significant legislative change that Republicans and Democrats alike have said is irrelevant to a bill that dictates military policy.
Included in the military policy bill are a number of bipartisan measures, including new benefits for tens of thousands of Vietnam-era veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange, a 3 percent increase in pay for service members and a boost in hazardous duty incentive pay.
It would also take steps to slow or block Mr. Trump’s planned drawdown of American troops from Germany and Afghanistan, and would make it more difficult for the president to deploy military personnel to the southern border.
The $900 billion pandemic relief package that President Trump belatedly signed Sunday night gained steam on Monday as an issue in the Georgia Senate runoffs, with the two Republican incumbents seeking to ride the tailwinds of the stimulus bill and claim credit for helping to bring aid to the state.
“Help is on the way,” Senator Kelly Loeffler tweeted Monday morning, applauding the stimulus package with its billions of dollars for vaccine distribution, schools and other beneficiaries, and a $600 payment to millions of Americans. She and her fellow incumbent, David Perdue, released a statement Sunday night thanking the president for finally approving the stimulus funds, avoiding the fact that Mr. Trump plunged the fate of the bill into turmoil last week by calling it “a disgrace” and demanding that direct payments be increased to $2,000.
At the same time, the two Democratic candidates — Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock — on Monday criticized the Republican-led Senate for dragging its feet for months on the bill. They called the $600 payments too small and seized on the president’s call for larger payments to bolster their position.
“David Perdue does not care about us, and $600 is a joke,” Mr. Ossoff told several hundred people at an outdoor get-out-the-vote rally with Mr. Warnock in DeKalb County, one of the suburban Atlanta counties that has become increasingly diverse over the past decade.
Mr. Ossoff faces Mr. Perdue in the runoff, while Mr. Warnock is challenging Ms. Loeffler.
On Sunday the president tweeted that he would make a final campaign appearance on behalf of the two senators in Dalton, Ga., a carpet manufacturing hub in the north, on the eve of the election. The two races have drawn national attention and a record influx of money because of their potentially pivotal roles in determining the balance of power in the Senate.
Both Mr. Ossoff and Mr. Warnock — as well as Democrats on Capitol Hill — viewed the stimulus checks as a winning issue and had seized on both the smaller payments and the president’s opposition to the stimulus package in an effort to improve their chances in Georgia. On Monday, hours before the House of Representatives voted to advance the $2,000 stimulus checks demanded by Mr. Trump, Mr. Ossoff tweeted, “@Perduesenate, when will you commit to $2,000 relief checks for Georgians?
The $900 billion stimulus bill casts a wide net, with measures aimed at addressing the needs of millions of Americans, including those who have lost their jobs, as well as small businesses, nursing homes, colleges, universities and K-12 schools.
The full text of the bill ran almost 5,600 pages. Here’s a look at what’s included.
Individual payments: $600 to individual adults with an adjusted gross income of up to $75,000 a year based on 2019 earnings. Plus an additional $600 per child for eligible families with dependent children. (On Monday, the House voted to increase the payment to $2,000 for individual adults, a measure that now awaits a Senate vote.)
Unemployment benefits: Up to $300 per week for 11 weeks.
Education resources: $82 billion for education, including about $54 billion for K-12 schools and $23 billion for colleges and universities.
Funding for broadband infrastructure: $7 billion to expand access to high-speed internet connections; $300 million for building out infrastructure in underserved rural areas; $1 billion in grants for tribal broadband programs.
Targeted aid for small businesses: $285 billion for additional loans to small businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program. Plus $12 billion for minority-owned businesses.
Funding for vaccines and nursing homes: Nearly $70 billion for a range of public health measures, including $20 billion for the purchase of vaccines and $8 billion for vaccine distribution, and an additional $20 billion to help states continue their test-and-trace programs.
Help for child care: $10 billion for the child care industry, with those funds intended to help providers struggling with reduced enrollment or closures stay open and continue paying their staffs.
Support for climate measures: New legislation to regulate hydrofluorocarbons, the powerful greenhouse gases common in air-conditioners and refrigerators. Plus $35 billion to fund wind, solar and other clean energy projects.
A ban on surprise medical bills: Make it illegal for hospitals to charge patients for services like emergency treatment by out-of-network doctors or transport in air ambulances, which patients often have no say about.
Rental protections: $25 billion in rental assistance. Extend a moratorium on evictions for another month, through Jan. 31 to protect tenants struggling with rent.
Food security: Increases to monthly food stamp benefits — known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — by 15 percent for six months, beginning on Jan. 1. Plus $13 billion for increased nutrition assistance, $400 million of which will support food banks and food pantries.