After blowing up a grenade that threatened to blow up a massive Covid aid measure and government funding and force the government to close in the middle of a pandemic, Donald Trump played Christmas for the second day in a row.
Failure to grant the bill could deny checks to millions of Americans on the move.
Trump had no events on his public schedule on the first day of his winter vacation on Thursday, but he traveled to his Palm Beach golf club, where he was seen by CNN cameras on the links.
Reporters were not given details about his program for the day, but said that “With the holiday season approaching, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American people. His schedule includes many meetings and calls. “
Trump’s departure came as Washington was still turning on its surprise, the 11-hour bill as an end-of-year spending bill that congressional leaders spent months negotiating to give most Americans $ 2,000. in the form of checks Covid – much more than the 600 members of his own party accepted his. The idea was quickly rejected by Republicans in the House during a rare Christmas Eve session, leaving the proposal in a language.
The bipartisan compromise had been considered a deal and won general approval in parliament and the Senate this week after the White House assured GOP leaders that Trump supported it. If Trump refuses to sign the agreement, which is attached to a $ 1.4 billion government funding bill, it will force the federal government shut down, in addition to delaying aid checks and stopping unemployment benefits and eviction protections in the midst of worse periods of the pandemic.
It was an apparent act of antagonism toward Republicans in Congress, from a president who unleashed the November 3 loss to President-elect Joe Biden and tried to come up with increasingly outrageous schemes to try to overthrow the results of democratic elections. He was urged by allies such as his lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who accompanied the president to Florida aboard Air Force One.
Trump’s anger has focused, in part, on Republicans in Congress, whom he says have not sufficiently supported his quest to delegitimize Biden’s victory, supporting unfounded claims of mass voter fraud before Congress meets to assess college votes. election on January 6.
Meanwhile, the nation continues to unfold as the coronavirus spreads, with record infections and hospitalizations and more than 327,000 deaths. And millions face the prospect of spending the holidays alone or struggling to make ends meet, without adequate income, food or shelter, due to the economic tax of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Democratic House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin have tried to save the end-of-year legislation to try to prevent the closure. Democrats will remind House MPs in Washington for a vote Monday on Trump’s $ 2,000 proposal, although he is likely to die in the GOP-controlled Senate. They are also considering a Monday vote on a containment measure to at least avoid federal closure and keep the government in office until Biden is inaugurated on January 20th.
In addition to aid checks, the Covid bill passed would establish a temporary additional benefit of $ 300 per week for the unemployed, provide a new round of grants for severely affected businesses, restaurants and theaters, and provide money for schools. money for healthcare providers and to help distribute the Covid vaccine.