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The homes of Senator Mitch McConnell and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the two most powerful members of Congress, have been reported vandalized, days after the contentious passage of a stimulus bill that has been criticized as inadequate by a broad coalition ranging from progressive activists to President Trump.
In a statement on Saturday, Mr. McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, lamented what he called a “radical tantrum” drawn from a “toxic playbook.” The Louisville station WDRB-TV reported that the senator’s home was tagged overnight with red and white spray paint. Photos show writing on the front of the home, including “Weres my money” on the front door. The Louisville Metro Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
“I’ve spent my career fighting for the First Amendment and defending peaceful protest,” Mr. McConnell said in the statement. “I appreciate every Kentuckian who has engaged in the democratic process whether they agree with me or not. This is different. Vandalism and the politics of fear have no place in our society.”
At about 2 a.m. on Friday, San Francisco police officers responded to a report of vandalism at a home in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. Graffiti was found spray-painted on the garage door and “a pig’s head” was left on the sidewalk, a Police Department spokesman said. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the home belonged to Ms. Pelosi.
The Police Department did not respond to additional questions, including whether the pig’s head discovered on the speaker’s property was real or fake. The speaker’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Mr. McConnell blocked an effort to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600 after the House voted on Monday to bump the size of payments. The proposed increase was part of a list of demands from President Trump that included investigating his baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election and repealing certain legal protections for tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter.
Mr. McConnell said on Tuesday that the Senate would “begin a process” to consider bigger payments along with Mr. Trump’s other demands.
Before the House’s vote on Monday, Ms. Pelosi said in a statement that to vote against the increase in stimulus payments “is to deny the financial hardship that families face and to deny them the relief they need.”
Last Sunday, Mr. McConnell applauded Mr. Trump’s signing of the new stimulus bill in a statement posted to Twitter.
“The compromise bill is not perfect,” he said. “But it will do an enormous amount of good for struggling Kentuckians and Americans across the country who need help now.”
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