WASHINGTON – The Senate wrapped up a rare New Year's Day session with Republicans rejecting President Donald Trump's demand for $2,000 COVID-19 aid checks and overriding his veto of a sweeping defense bill, an unusual one-two rebuke at the end of a chaotic Congress.Democrats tried a final time to push forward a House-passed bill that would boost the $600 direct aid payments just approved by Congress to $2,000 as Trump demanded for millions of Americans.
Republicans blocked a vote, arguing in favor of a more targeted approach.The rejection of Trump's top priorities, along with the first veto override of his presidency, offered an unusual willingness by the president's party to confront Trump, now in his final days in the White House after.