28th December, 2020
By Abankula with agency reports
Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday night promised some ‘good news’ on the $892billion COVID-19 relief bill.
“Good news on Covid Relief Bill. Information to follow”, he tweeted.
He also teased another disclosure on something he has up his sleeves for 6 January in Washington, DC.
“Don’t miss it. Information to follow”, he wrote.
January 6th is the day the Congress will ratify the results of the Electoral College, which gave President-elect Joe Biden a landslide 306 votes to Trump’s 232.
Trump and his Republican allies may be planning to obstruct the ratification, which in his own case in 2016 lasted just 30 minutes.
It was not immediately clear whether he wants to sign the relief bill and the entire spending bill, running into $2.3 trillion.
Trump had faced bipartisan pressure since he refused to sign the bill, demanding instead a $2000 check for struggling Americans.
He also wanted all the extraneous foreign aid in the bill to be expunged.
While he stuck to his guns, millions of jobless Americans were at the brink of losing benefits and federal agencies faced the spectre of shutdown due to lack of funding.
Many economists agree that the financial aid of $600 in the bill should be higher to get the economy moving again but say that immediate support for Americans hit by coronavirus lockdowns is urgently needed.
Unemployment benefits being paid out to about 14 million people through pandemic programs lapsed on Saturday, but could be restarted until mid-March if Trump signs the bill.
Adding to the uncertainty, the package includes $1.4 trillion in spending to fund government agencies.
If Trump does not sign the legislation, then a partial government shutdown will begin on Tuesday that would put millions of government workers’ incomes at risk, unless Congress steps in with a stop-gap measure the president accepts.
Republican Senator Pat Toomey told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump should approve the bill now, then push for more unemployment money later.
“I understand the president would like to send bigger checks to everybody. I think what he ought to do is sign this bill and then make the case. Congress can pass another bill,” Toomey said.
“You don’t get everything you want, even if you are the president of the United States,” he said.
After months of wrangling, Republicans and Democrats agreed to the package last weekend, with the support of the White House.
Trump stunned Republicans and Democrats alike when he later said he was unhappy with the massive bill, which provides $892 billion in coronavirus financial relief, despite offering no objections to the terms of the deal before Congress voted it through on Monday.