WATCH: House GOP Blocks $2000 Covid Relief Checks on Christmas Eve — Full House Will Vote Monday

House Republicans blocked a Christmas Eve effort by Democrats to unanimously approve an amendment to increase Covid relief checks from $600 per person to $2000 per person.

During a pro forma House session Thursday morning, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer moved to pass the amendment by unanimous consent. But that motion was blocked, as presiding officer Rep. Debbie Dingell explained, because House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not approve the request, which is a requirement to allow unanimous consent.

President Donald Trump  skipped town Wednesday after potentially blowing up a painstakingly-negotiated coronavirus relief bill with a demand that individual payments be increased from $600 to $2000, and after vetoing a massive defense appropriations bill. Hoyer’s maneuver was an attempt to move the bill along quickly while also securing the higher payments that Democrats have been pushing for since May.

Following the session, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi promised a full vote on the increased relief:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement after her party’s measure failed that she would hold a full recorded vote on the proposal for $2,000 payments on Monday.

“If the President is serious about the $2,000 direct payments, he must call on House Republicans to end their obstruction,” Pelosi said.

Democrats have called on Trump to sign the coronavirus relief and government funding bill into law and to support the separate cash payment plan.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and McCarthy, the top two Republicans in Congress, and their aides have been silent on Trump’s demand for bigger checks.

Watch the clip above via C-Span.