Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at 8:37:00 P.M. EST
(CNBC)President Donald Trump, in a stunning Tuesday night tweet, called the $900 billion Covid relief bill passed by Congress an unsuitable “disgrace.”
He urged lawmakers to make a number of changes to the measure, including bigger direct payments to individuals and families.
Trump did not threaten a veto. He had been expected to sign the legislation into law, along with a $1.4 trillion spending bill to keep the government open. Congress passed the measure with veto-proof majorities.
[Photo caption] U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a medal ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, December 3, 2020.
U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a medal ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, December 3, 2020. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
[Reuters duplication.]
President Donald Trump, in a stunning Tuesday night tweet, called the $900 billion Covid relief bill passed by Congress an unsuitable “disgrace” and urged lawmakers to make a number of changes to the measure, including bigger direct payments to individuals and families.
Trump also suggested that his administration might be the “next administration,” despite his loss [sic] to President-elect Joe Biden. The relief legislation passed by Congress Monday was negotiated in part by a senior Trump administration official, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The president’s tweet, which included a video of him discussing what he considers the bill’s many flaws, including funding headed overseas, came less than 24 hours after the Senate passed the measure. The foreign aid provisions are part of a $1.4 trillion measure to keep the government funded, which was paired with the Covid relief bill.
Trump did not threaten a veto in the video, and he had been expected to sign the legislation into law, along with the bill to keep the government open. The legislation passed both houses of Congress with veto-proof majorities.
GRA: Will he veto it?
--GRA
$2,000 OUT--STIMULUS BILL DELAYED UNTIL AROUND THE 28TH?
ReplyDelete(ZH)
Update (1920ET): Following Pelosi's earlier plea to Republicans to agree to a bill calling for $2,000 stimulus checks which she will put to a vote in the House on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he would object to a bill boosting stimulus payments for individuals to $2,000, Bloomberg reports citing a person who participated in a private call with GOP House members. Furthermore, the Republican also plans to offer a new Continuing Resolution separating state and foreign aid from the omnibus. And since McCarthy's position will see objection from Dems, we are - as CNBC's Kayla Tausche puts it - "Back at square one."
If the measure fails on Thursday, which it now appears certain to do, Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal will introduce a new bill, called the Cash Act, to be put on the floor Monday. That bill would codify the larger stimulus payments, Pelosi told Democrats in a private call on Wednesday, according to a person on the call.
Trump’s demand for bigger checks came alongside various complaints about the tens of billions in pork, including hundreds of millions in foreign aid, contained in the $2.3 trillion ($900 billion in Covid-19 relief with $1.4 trillion in government funding) bill, which was passed with big bipartisan support on Monday despite virtually nobody reading the 5,500+ pages of the full legislation.
If Trump does not sign the approved legislation by Dec. 28, the government may shut down after midnight due to lack of approved funding: “The entire country knows that it is urgent for the president to sign this bill, both to provide the coronavirus relief and to keep government open,” Pelosi said in her letter.
--GRA