The Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed a bill Monday evening to increase direct coronavirus relief payments to some people to $2,000, although the measure faces an uphill battle in the Republican-run Senate despite support from President Donald Trump.
The legislation would increase the $600 in direct payments to those who earned less than $75,000 last year to $2,000. Because the bill was brought up using an expedited procedure, it required a two-thirds majority to pass. It passed 275 to 134, just two votes more than the 273 needed.
Trump insisted on increasing the payments after his administration struck a deal for the $600 checks as part of a coronavirus relief and government spending package, which passed both chambers of Congress last week and which his administration helped to negotiate.
"I simply want to get our great people $2,000, rather than the measly $600 that is now in the bill," Trump tweeted over the weekend from his Florida resort.
