TRUMP OKS RELIEF AND BUDGET BILL
President Trump on Sunday signed a $2.3 trillion COVID-19 relief and government-funding bill that includes $600 stimulus checks for most Americans,
He had refused to accept that same deal for days.
The nearly 5,600-page bill passed the House and Senate by overwhelming margins last Monday night, just hours after its text was released.
Trump signed the measure despite having slammed it as a “disgrace” and calling on Congress to boost the relief payments to $2,000.
In a statement Sunday night, though, the president said that millions of dollars in “wasteful items need to be removed” and that he would “send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item”
But those are merely suggestions to Congress. The bill, as signed, would not necessarily be changed.
The measure authorizes direct checks of $600 for people earning up to $75,000 per year. The amount decreases as incomes increase, and people who make more than $95,000 get nothing. There’s an additional $600 per child stimulus payment.
The bill also creates a new $300 weekly unemployment supplement and replenishes a forgivable loan program for small businesses. It includes protections against evictions and money for COVID-19 vaccine distribution and cash-strapped transit systems.
But the measure also includes items unrelated to the pandemic, such as creating new criminal penalties, including prison time for violating copyright laws with online streaming.
Critics say it’s also packed with pork.
In his statement, Trump insisted said that Congress on Monday would vote on a separate bill to “increase payments to individuals from $600 to $2,000.”
“Therefore, a family of four would receive $5,200,” the president said.
The idea of giving out fatter checks is supported by the Democratic-controlled House, but is likely to be ignored by the Republican-led Senate, where such spending has already been opposed.
Still, both sides of the aisle welcomed Trump’s signing of the bill on Sunday night.
“The compromise bill is not perfect, but it will do an enormous amount of good for struggling Kentuckians and Americans across the country who need help now,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“I thank the president for signing this relief into law.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s decision to sign the bill was “welcome news” to a nation struggling to recover from a pandemic that has devastated small businesses and led to massive unemployment.
“This relief legislation is a down payment on what is needed to crush the virus, put money in the pockets of the American people and honor our heroes — our health-care workers, first responders, transit and sanitation workers and teachers,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “We need to ensure robust support for state and local government to distribute and administer a vaccine, keep workers employed and prevent devastating service cuts — and we must do so as soon as possible.”
Pelosi also called on Republicans to join the president’s call to increase the individual stimulus checks to $2,000 per person.
In the face of a looming government shutdown and widespread economic hardship, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle had implored Trump to sign the coronavirus relief bill before the Christmas holiday
“You don’t get everything you want, even if you’re president of the United States,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“I think the COVID-relief measures are really, really important.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders had also urged the president to sign the bill and release the $600 payments, then come back to work with Congress.
“Sign the bill, Mr. President, and then immediately — Monday, Tuesday — we can pass a $2,000 direct payment for the working families of this country,” Sanders (I-Vermont) said on ABC’s “This Week.”
He accused Trump of leaving Americans in the lurch while a “terrible economic crisis” devastates the nation.