Good morning. I'm Arjun Singh from the Washington Post and this is the Daily

202 for Thursday, December 31st. James is out for the holidays but I'll be here

instead with the stories you need to know.

In today's news, the Trump administration leaves final steps of mass vaccination to beleaguered

states.

And Republican Senator Josh Hawley says he plans to contest the certification of the electoral college vote in favor of Joe Biden.

But first, the big idea.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he would not be

bullied into allowing a vote that would send $2,000 checks to most Americans, but offered

Democrats a Faustian bargain. As my colleagues Tony Ram and Karun demurgian report, with only days left on the Senate

calendar, the majority leader said Wednesday that there wasn't enough time to vote on the

House bill that would send the checks.

Instead, McConnell proposed bundling the checks with two other proposals, one that would study

election fraud in the 2020 election, and another that would curb legal protections

for technology companies.

Democrats said no such package would pass. legal protections for technology companies.

Democrats said no such package would pass and accused McConnell of effectively

killing a bill that made odd bedfellows of President Trump,

several Senate Republicans, and congressional Democratic leadership

who threw their support behind the $2,000 payments.

McConnell's decision could have broad political repercussions.

Just a day before President Trump said it would be a quote death wish unquote for Republicans not to boost the stimulus payments.

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