Trump calls Covid-19 relief bill a ‘disgrace’
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump injected confusion into the outlook for Covid-19 relief on Tuesday, demanding changes to the bipartisan legislation approved by Congress less than 24 hours earlier.
In a surprise video announcement posted on his Twitter account, Trump called the bill a “disgrace” and said it was full of “wasteful and unnecessary” items. He demanded that lawmakers increase the stimulus checks due to go out to most Americans to $2,000, from the “ridiculously low” amount of $600. “I am asking Congress to amend this bill,” Trump said. “Send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a Covid relief package. And maybe that administration will be me, and we will get it done.”
The attack on Monday’s legislation, which included $900 billion in relief along with $1.4 trillion in government funding through next September, marked a sudden change after the administration had endorsed frantic negotiations among congressional leaders to get a deal after months of deadlock.
If the president doesn’t sign the legislation by December 28, government funding would lapse after midnight that day.
Meanwhile, a senior health official with the country’s Covid-19 task force has announced that she would retire soon even as it was learnt that she had participated in a holiday gathering amid calls for social distancing and caution.
Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, said on Tuesday she plans to retire, but is willing to first help President-elect Joe Biden’s team with its coronavirus response as needed.
Birx, in an interview with the news site Newsy, did not give a specific timetable on her plans. “I will be helpful in any role that people think I can be helpful in, and then I will retire,” Birx told the news outlet.
Her comments came just days after AP reported that she travelled out of state for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was urging Americans to forgo holiday travel.
Birx acknowledged in a statement on Sunday that she went to her Delaware property and was accompanied by family members. She insisted the purpose of the roughly 50-hour visit was only to deal with the winterisation of the property before a potential sale.
“I did not go to Delaware for the purpose of celebrating Thanksgiving,” Birx said in her statement.