The House of Representatives Friday passed a $2 trillion aid package designed to throw a lifeline to American individuals, businesses and the health-care industry as the nation fights the COVID-19 pandemic.
CNN reports the bill now goes to President Trump for his signature.
This followed efforts by Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie to force members of Congress to return to Washington for a roll call vote. But CNN reports House leadership was able to thwart Massie’s support of a roll call vote. That allowed members to pass the measure with a voice vote instead. But members still had to travel back to the nation’s capital to establish a quorum and deny Massie’s effort.
For his attempt, Massie earned substantial criticism from lawmakers and even from Trump, a member of ohis own party. The president suggested earlier in the day that the Kentucky lawmaker should be kicked out of the GOP.
The aid package is the largest in American history.
CNN reports among the bill’s key measures will be sending checks directly to Americans, an expansion of jobless benefits, funding for hospitals and health-care providers, financial help for small businesses and $500 billion in loans for distressed businesses.
Massie was interviewed earlier in the week by a Cincinnati radio station and expressed his views on members of Congress who had said that getting to Washington was something of a hardship.
“If congressmen are complaining that it’s hard to travel, well, what about the truckers that I saw on the road when I drove to DC? Hitch a ride with the trucker. … If you’re a congressman making $87 an hour and find it hard to get to DC, well, hitch a ride with the trucker,” Massie said on 55KRC talk radio.
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