Trump delivers an update on “Operation Warp Speed” in the Rose
Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on November 13, 2020.
MANDEL NGAN / AFP
President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected a massive
Covid economic relief package passed by Congress, branding it “a
disgrace” in an act of political brinkmanship less than a month
before he must leave office and when millions of Americans are
suffering fallout from the pandemic.
Trump dropped the bombshell via a pre-recorded statement made in
the White House and sent out on Twitter.
It came just a day after his Republicans and the Democrats
finally agreed overwhelmingly to a $900 billion bill meant to throw
a lifeline to businesses and people struggling to keep heads above
water.
In his address, Trump said he would refuse to accept the bill as
it is and demanded changes, notably a big increase in the proposed
$600 direct payments to less well-off Americans.
“I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the
ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple,” he said,
referring to relief checks.
Tapping into his nationalist “America First” brand, Trump also
castigated measures added onto the bill during complex negotiations
that would provide funding for projects benefiting US partners
abroad and other non-Covid related items like the environment.
“It really is a disgrace,” he said. “I’m also asking Congress to
immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this
legislation, and just send me a suitable bill.”
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Trump has not yet received the bill and he did not explicitly
say he would not sign. If he actually vetoed the package, Congress
would almost certainly quickly override that, given the bipartisan
support.
In what is widely expected to be only a portion of a slew of
presidential pardons and commutations issued in the dying days of
the administration, the White House also announced late Tuesday
that 20 people had been selected.
They included two convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s
Russia probe into Trump campaign ties to Moscow and four men
convicted in connection with the mass killing of at least 14 Iraqi
civilians.
– Power struggle –
The Covid package is wrapped into a $2.3 trillion, almost
5,600-page “coronabus” bill that includes a so-called omnibus bill
to fund the government for the coming year.
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A congressional override of a veto would mark an embarrassing
defeat for Trump, who is spending his final weeks in office before
the January 20 inauguration of Democrat Joe Biden by pursuing
unprecedented attempts to try and get the election results
overturned.
However, until he has the bill on his desk he has no need to
veto.
And Trump’s motives in picking the fight with Congress are
intertwined with his extraordinary ongoing struggle to overturn the
November 3 election.
Despite courts across the country rejecting his baseless claims
of fraud, he has enough allies on the right of the Republican party
— and a devoted following among some voters — to keep trying to
derail the traditionally smooth presidential transition.
He pushed again Tuesday in a second lengthy video statement from
the White House, claiming that he won in a “landslide.”
His challenge now puts the Republican party in a bind, forcing
lawmakers who angered him by declaring Biden the true winner to
choose whether they dare defy him further and risk wrecking Covid
relief.
Democratic leaders pounced immediately to insist that their
party had been in favor of higher individual relief payments from
the start.
“We spent months trying to secure $2000 checks but Republicans
blocked it,” said top Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer on
Twitter.
“Trump needs to sign the bill to help people and keep the
government open and we’re glad to pass more aid Americans need.
Maybe Trump can finally make himself useful and get Republicans not
to block it again.”
“At last, the President has agreed to $2,000 — Democrats are
ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent.
Let’s do it!” said Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of
Representatives, which is Democrat-controlled.
Senator Bernie Sanders, who sought the Democratic nomination for
president on a progressive platform, also joined in, tweeting that
he “first introduced a bill to provide a $2,000 direct payment with
@SenKamalaHarris & @EdMarkey 7 months ago.”
“Now, Mr. President, get Mitch McConnell and your Republican
friends to stop opposing it and we can provide working class
Americans with $2,000.”
AFP
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/12/23/trump-rejects-covid-19-relief-bill-calling-it-a-disgrace/