The new bailout for the economy approved by Congress on Monday night, after months of lockdown and an insane final negotiation to bypass the government shutdown, came along with an unexpected and serious setback just 24 hours after approval. President Donald Trump, who is due to sign said legislation considering $ 900,000 million in urgent aid to families and businesses affected by the consequences of the health crisis, hinted on Tuesday evening that he will oppose this as he considers it a ” shame”.
In a short video released by Twitter, the president has asked lawmakers to increase the “ridiculously low” amount of checks the majority of American adults should receive from $ 600 to $ 2,000 under the bill. The idea of a new shipment of checks, for half the amount shipped in the spring, comes precisely from his Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin. The president also points to another set of measures in the legislation that he considers “wasteful”.
The 5,593-page document, approved on Monday, contains, in addition to aid, government funding through September, and represents a total spend of $ 2.3 billion. The bill received widespread support from both sides on Capitol Hill and passed in the House of Representatives with 359 to 53 votes and in the Senate, with a Republican majority, 92 to six. Trump has stayed away from the negotiations in recent days.
“I ask Congress to change this bill and raise the ridiculously low $ 600 to $ 2,000, or $ 4,000 a pair. I also ask Congress to immediately scrap the wasteful and unnecessary elements of this legislation and send me an appropriate bill, otherwise the next government will have to come up with a COVID aid package, and maybe that government will be. me, ”Trump said in a 35-second video, in which he continues to hope to stay in the White House from January 20, despite the loss of the election on November 3.
The wide margins with which the legislation has passed in both houses of Congress indicate that they can easily reverse any veto by the president, although he does not explicitly say in the video whether he is willing to block it. If it did, even if Congress exercised its right to reverse it, the process could take weeks, delaying aid to the most deprived in the face of a winter when the pandemic hit the country. hits harder than ever.
The measures in the package include a $ 300 per week (for 11 weeks) topping up on unemployment benefits and a new set of checks issued to most adult Americans, like the one handed out in the spring, but this time for $ 600 (half of the previous one). There are also grants for businesses and funds for schools, health centers and tenants that are being evicted. And it includes $ 69,000 million for the distribution of the vaccine against the covid.