After throwing a grenade threatening to blow up a massive COVID emergency relief and government funding bill and force a government shutdown amid a pandemic, President Donald Trump spent his Christmas Eve playing golf in Florida.
PALM BEACH – After throwing a grenade that threatens to blow up a massive COVID bill for emergency aid and government funding and force a government shutdown amid a pandemic, President Donald Trump spent his Christmas Eve playing golf in Florida.
If you disagree on the bill, millions of Americans could be borderline denied checks.
Trump had no events on his public calendar on the first day of his winter vacation Thursday, but traveled to his Palm Beach golf club, where he was spotted by CNN cameras on the links. Reporters were not given details of his daily schedule, but said that: “As the holiday season approaches, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American people. His schedule includes many meetings and phone calls. “
Trump’s departure came as Washington was still doubting his astonishing eleventh hour demand that a year-end bill that Congress leaders have negotiated for months should give most Americans $ 2,000 COVID checks – far more than the $ 600 members of his own party had agreed. The idea was quickly rejected by House Republicans during a rare Christmas Eve session, leaving the proposal in limbo.
The bipartisan compromise was considered a done deal and had received wide approval in the House and Senate this week after the White House assured GOP leaders that Trump supported it. If Trump refuses to sign the deal, which is tied to a $ 1.4 trillion government funding bill, it will force a federal government shutdown, in addition to delaying aid controls and shutting down unemployment benefits and eviction protections in the midst of the most dire period of the pandemic.
It was a last raised middle finger to Republicans from a president raging over his November 3 loss to President-elect Joe Biden and trying to devise new, increasingly scandalous plans to try to reverse the results of a Democratic election. He is urged on by allies such as his attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who accompanied the President to Florida aboard Air Force One.
Trump’s anger has been directed in part at Republicans in Congress who he believes have given insufficient support to his quest to delegitimize Biden’s victory by lobbying for baseless claims of mass voter fraud before Congress meets to raise the electoral college’s votes. January 6.
In Florida, Trump continued to rant about the results, complaining to members that he had been deprived of the election and expressing frustration with the bill for the year-end spending.
“At a rally in Florida today, everyone was wondering, why aren’t the Republicans in arms and fighting over the fact that the Democrats stole the faked presidential election?” Trump tweeted after returning to his private Mar-a -Lago club. “Especially in the Senate, they said, where you helped 8 senators win their races.”
“I will never forget it!” he wrote in another,
The statements underscored concerns that Trump is blowing up negotiations to punish lawmakers for what he sees as their lack of loyalty.
Trump has provided no credible evidence to support his election claims, which have also been refuted by a long list of officials, from former Attorney General William Barr to Republican governors, judges and local election administrators.
Meanwhile, the nation continues to falter as the coronavirus spreads, with record infections and hospitalizations and more than 327,000 now dead. And millions of people now face the prospect of spending the holidays alone or struggling to make ends meet without adequate income, food or shelter thanks to the economic toll of the pandemic.
To mark the holiday, President and First Lady Melania Trump tweeted a pre-recorded video message wishing Americans a Merry Christmas and thanking first responders and members of the military.
“As you know, this Christmas is different from years past,” said Ms. Trump, focusing on the acts of “kindness and courage” that had caused the pandemic.
Trump praised the vaccine doses now being delivered and thanked those responsible. “It really is a Christmas wonder,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democratic House Chairman Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been trying to save the year-end bill to avoid a shutdown. Democrats will recall House lawmakers to Washington for a vote Monday on Trump’s $ 2,000 proposal, though it would likely die in the GOP-controlled senate. They are also considering voting on an emergency measure Monday to at least avert a federal shutdown and keep the government going until Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
In addition to the emergency checks, the passed COVID law would establish a temporary supplemental unemployment benefit of $ 300 per week, provide a new round of funding for hard-hit businesses, restaurants and theaters and money for schools, and bring in money for health care providers and to help distribute COVID vaccines.